Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations

1974 Marital and familial roles on television: an exploratory sociological analysis Charles Daniel Fisher Iowa State University

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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 74-15,424 FISHER, Charles Daniel, 1944- MARITAL AND FAMILIAL ROLES ON TELEVISION: AN EXPLORATORY SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS.

Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1974 Sociology, family

University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. Marital and familial roles on television;

An exploratory sociological analysis

by

Charles Daniel Fisher

A Dissertation Submitted to the

Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of

The Requirements for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department: Sociology and Anthropology Major; Sociology

Approved;

Signature was redacted for privacy.

Signature was redacted for privacy.

For the Major Department

Signature was redacted for privacy.

Iowa State University Ames, Iowa

1974 i i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CHAPTER I. THE INTRODUCTION 1

The Prevalence of Television 3

The Impact of Television 7

The Statement of the Problem 14

CHAPTER II. THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 18

The Functional Analysis of Mass Communication 18

The Cultural Norms Theory 34

The Socialization Process for Marital and Familial Roles 53

CHAPTER III. THE METHODOLOGY 67

CHAPTER IV. THE SAMPLE 79

CHAPTER V. THE FINDINGS: MARITAL AND FAMILIAL PORTRAYALS ON TELEVISION 86

The Implications of Televised Role Behaviors for Society 87

The Implications of Televised Role Behaviors for the Conjugal Unit 111

The Realism of the Televised Role Behaviors 126

The Summary 138

CHAPTER VI. THE SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 143

The Hypotheses for Future Research 143

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY 152

THE APPENDIX A 165

THE APPENDIX B 189

THE APPENDIX C 209 1

CHAPTER I. THE INTRODUCTION

Communication for human beings is both fundamental and vitally im­

portant to the continuance of human society. From primitive times to the

present, society has depended on the capacity to transmit intentions,

desires, feelings, needs, knowledge and experience from one person to

another. It would seem inevitable that such an important process, one so

basic to the very existence of human society, would have been thoroughly

investigated and researched. This, however, has not been the case. Only

recently has communication become an area of interest for the social

scientists.

The essence of this paper is not directed at communication in gen­

eral. Its scope is limited to that aspect identified as mass communica­

tion. Mass communication is differentiated from other forms of human

communication in that it refers to "...the relatively simultaneous ex­

posure of large heterogeneous audiences to symbols transmitted by im­

personal means from an organized source for whom the audience members are anonymous" (Larsen, 1964:348). It should also be noted that mass commu­

nication as used in a sociological sense is not to be equated with the technological knowledge necessary to transmit such messages.

In this transmission of symbols to large heterogeneous audiences, messages are not sent to any specific individual. This definition of com­ munication excludes letters, telegrams, telephone calls, etc. Although the term "audience" can refer to any size group from a dozen listening to a lecture to several million watching the same television special, it usually is restricted to the latter type, where it is not possible for 2

the communicator to interact with the members on a one-to-one basis.

Secondly, the members of the audience are heterogeneous in that they are

not all of the same age, social class, etc. In other words, they form an

aggregation of individuals from varied socio-economic statuses as well as

educational and occupational levels. Also, the individual members of an

audience generally remain anonymous to each other as well as to the com­

municator. It should be noted, however, that the ubiquity of the media

as well as the standardization of content does provide a general context

for interpersonal communication.

Exposure to the mass communication message is rapid, public, and

transient. It is rapid because the message often reaches several million

people at one time as compared to those works of art in museums that are

seen by relatively few. The message is public in that it is not directed

at any particular individual and is open, therefore, for public surveil­

lance. The message is transient in that it is usually not preserved for

posterity (of course, there are exceptions such as magazines, periodicals, etc.). One of the most rapid, public and transient of the mass communica­ tion phenomena is the medium of television. It is toward this medium that the focus of this paper is ultimately directed.

This investigation is timely in that the impact of television is a contemporary real-world problem. It is a real-world problem in the sense that with a decreasing work week, and an enlarging population, an ever enlarging aggregate of people may be turning to television as a substitute for time formerly spent in work. What are the effects of increasing tele­ vision viewing? Of particular concern regarding effects is the question 3

of violence, a concern great enough to generate congressional hearings on

broadcast violence. But violence is only one message out of many that

needs to be investigated. What other messages may television broadcast?

Few answers exist.

In addition to being a real-world problem the impact of television

is also a sociological problem. If sociology includes among its goals

understanding, explanation, and prediction of social phenomena, then it

would be remiss in not investigating a medium toward which so much of the

populace directs its attention. Furthermore, sociological methods have

not been utilized extensively in mass communication research. Therefore,

it is a goal of this writer to contribute a parcel of knowledge to soci­

ological literature containing a theoretical perspective, a methodol­

ogical technique, and the development of testable hypotheses that may be

investigated at some future date.

The Prevalence of Television

The technological capacities for the development of television were

formulated in the latter 1920's and early 1930's. In 1931, Vladimir

Zworykin eliminated the need for a cumbersome scanning disc, thereby

providing a major technological breakthrough for the expanded use of

television. On July 1, 1941, the Federal Communications Commission ap­ proved commercial television; by the end of that year, there were six communication stations and approximately 10,000 sets, half in New York

City. Although production was interrupted by World War II, it picked up later; by January 1948, 102,000 sets; by April the number of sets had 4

doubled. During 1948, one million sets were manufactured, compared with

179,000 in 1947, and 6,500 in 1946 (Bogart, 1960:102).

Although a rather recent invention, having been on the American

scene some thirty years, the ubiquity of television is incontrovertible.

Each evening in the comfort of one's living room, the television networks

review the happenings of the day for the viewer. The viewer, if he is

interested, can be exposed to various works of art from around the world

by viewing the educational channel. On the other hand, if he wants a

relaxing evening of entertainment, this is also provided by the tele­

vision medium. Many times each week one finds the viewer engrossed in

viewing something that is taking place that very minute in some far corner

of the world. Several examples of this from early Spring of 1972 would

include the Winter Olympics broadcast from Sapporo, Japan, or the histor­

ical visit of President Nixon to the People's Republic of China. Perhaps

the epitome of the technical competence as well as the availability of

almost anything to the American viewer in the comforts of his home was

reached when the viewer had the opportunity to watch Neil Armstrong put

man's first step on the moon!

The growth of television has certainly been dramatic. It has become

(along with radio) ubiquitous throughout the United States. The following

table depicts the number of television sets in use in the United States. 5

Table 1

The number of television sets in the United States (1946-67)a

Total No. Monochrome Color of Monochrome Color Sets in Use Sets Households Sets per Sets per Year (lOOO's) (1000's) (1000's) Household Household

1946 8 38,370 .0002 1947 250 39,107 .0064 1948 1000 40,523 .0247 1949 4000 42,182 .0948 1950 10500 43,554 .2411 1951 15750 44,656 .3527 1953 28000 46,334 .6043 1957 47200 49,543 .9527 1960 55500 200 52,799 1 .0512 .0038 1961 57600 400 53,464 1 .0774 .0075 1962 60800 800 54,652 1 .1125 .0146 1963 65000 1600 55,189 1.1778 .0290 1964 70000 3000 55,996 1 .2501 .0536 1965 75000 5000 57,251 1 .3100 .0873 1966 78500 9700 58,092 1 .3513 .1670 1967 81500 12700 58,845 1 .3850 .2158

aSources: U. S. Bureau of Census, I960; U. S. Bureau of Census, 1967; The World Almanac, 1969; as ci ted in DeFleur, 1970.

It is apparent from the table that the growth of the presence of the

television set has been rapid. It has been estimated that over ninety percent of all families in the United States have one or more television sets, utilizing them on an average of five to six hours per day (Danish,

1963). In 1963, Appel 1 indicated that there were more homes with tele­ vision sets than phones, cars, bathtubs, or refrigerators. As of April

1970, 96% of all households in the United States had at least one set; 29% had two or more (Statistical Abstract, 1972:497). By household annual 6

income, of families having less than $3,000 income in 1971» 77% had at

least one black & white set and 16% had a color set. Of those families

having incomes of $25,000 and over, 82% had black and white sets

while 79% had color sets (Statistical Abstract, 1972:328). The following

figure gives some indication of the growth of the number of sets per

household.

100%

50%

Figure 1

Percentage of American homes with one or more television sets;

1946-1972 (Liebert, 1973:6)

Concerning viewing time, LoSciuto indicated that in his sample of some 250 families, the median viewing time per day was 183 minutes or 3 hours and three minutes (1971:54). On the average, an adult in the

United States will spend ten years of his life before the set (Looney,

1971). 7

Of particular concern to some writers is the amount of time that pre­

school children spend in front of the television set. "By the time they

(pre-schoolers) enter first grade, they will have received more hours of

instruction from television networks than they will later receive from

college profs while earning a bachelor's degree" (Johnson, 1970:14). In

terms of the number of hours involved, this approaches some 22,000 hours

before the television as compared to 11,000 in the classroom (Looney,

1971). Long before the child walks, he is familiar with the fast moving

and entertaining "box". In light of the preceding statistics plus other

available data on the amount of viewing and types of programing presented,

many people are very concerned about the impact of television on the

viewer as well as society at large.

The Impact of Television

The question concerning the impact of television is certainly not

just a recent issue. For at least two decades critics have been concerned

about all sorts of negative effects that television may have on the viewer.

These waves of concern peaked when Congressional Hearings on Mass Media

were held in Washington, D. C., on October 16, 17 and December 18-20, 1968.

The findings of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of

Violence did not turn up conclusive evidence one way or the other concern­

ing television. In 1971, the United Stated Department of HEW published a five-volume collection of papers and research findings concerning tele­ vision violence. Although in many instances positive relationships between

viewed violence and subsequent aggressive behavior were found, Television 8

and Social Behavior did not provide final and conclusive evidence on this

issue.

The debate continues with arguments that television viewing is bio­

logically dangerous because of X-ray emissions, creates passivity in the

viewer, and debases culture (Meyersohn, 1957:34$). Counter arguments

present material to indicate that television has made available to most

people a wide spectrum of information, entertainment and cultural experi­

ences (Danish, 1963:307).

Gunther Anders, in his article "The Phantom World of TV", contends

that now each individual is treated as a mass man, all being served the

same identical product. "Through the consumption of mass commodities...

mass men are produced. The individuality of each human being is being

erased in the comforts of the living room rocker" (1957:360). Succinctly,

Ander's criticisms are:

1. Television threatens to dissolve the family under the guise of fostering intimacy within the family. The outside world (real or fiction) dominates family life.

2. Television sets now speak in the place of the person and that this creates passivity in people. People no longer entertain each other; they are entertained by others.

3. Since the world is brought into our own homes, we do not need to explore it. As a result we do not have to acquire personal experience. Man now travels as a last resort (1957:360).

(One might note, however, the extensive development and utilization of the

automobile and self-contained mobile homes as vacation vehicles. Many

people must be traveling, as evidenced by the over-crowding of many

national parks). 9

The reader may remember the "Person-to-Person" television show hosted

by Edward R. Murrow. This program took the viewer into other peoples'

homes. According to Hausknecht (1957)» this program is prima facia evi­

dence that people living in gold fish bowls now has become reality. There

is nothing wrong per se with the living room becoming a public domain.

However, Hausknecht indicates this is "anticipatory socialization", so­

cialization that will make adjustment in some future situation easier. In

particular, he feels that the microphone will become common place in everyone's life and that such programs will make us ready for that time.

Otto Larsen has outlined in a parsimonious fashion the social effects of mass media, of which television is one important medium:

1. It has facilitated the manipulation of symbols as in marketing, public relations, entertainment, and marketing research.

2. Mass communication has become the major means for expediting the flow of information, thus extending the horizon of every man's environment.

3. Mass communication has not only introduced new content into the patterns of conversation and interpersonal interaction but has also become a force for the standardization of basic speech patterns and other language habits.

4. The mass media have become a major arbiter of social status. The media manipulate prestige and authority simply by giving or withholding attention and recognition to persons, issues, organizations, and movements,

5. Mass communication has given new emphasis to personality as a factor in social and political life. The media are a major source for identifying and evaluating heroes and villains and thus provide significant role models that serve as social­ izing agents in society.

6. Mass communication has altered family patterns. The media challenge traditional lines of authority by influencing the basis for family formation through the portrayal of romantic values, by offering guidance on family problems, by redefin­ 10

ing parental roles and reinforcing the prerogatives of children, and by creating new choice points in the budgeting of family recreational activities.

7. Mass communication, coupled with mass production, has mag­ nified material values, created "thing" consciousness, and generally elevated the perception of the importance of the economi c sphere.

8. Mass communication has speeded the processes of cultural diffusion, has brought urban values and attitudes to rural settings, and has generally served as an agent fostering social change (1964:353).

Granted that the mass media (including television) might have the

above affects, the "Commission on Obscenity and Pornography" (on which

Otto Larsen served) would appear to be of the impression that these media

do not have any effects on the users. Among its conclusions the com­

mission suggested several legislative recommendations. In general out­

line, it recommended that federal, state and local legislation should not

seek to interfere with the rights of adults who wish to read, obtain, or

view explicit sexual materials. The commission did recommend, however,

that such material be prohibited to young persons who do not have their

parents' consent and also legislation to prevent this material from being

thrust upon these youths without the necessary consent. This general

legislative recommendation was based upon "extensive empirical investi­

gation, both by the commission and by others, (which) provides no evi­

dence that exposure to or use of explicit sexual materials plays a signif­

icant role in the causation of social or individual harm such as crime,

delinquency, sexual or nonsexual deviancy or severe emotional disturb­ ances" (Larsen and Wolfgang, 1970:57,58).

A minority statement by Otto Larsen and Marvin Wolfgang, "...recom- n

mends no specific statutory restrictions on obscenity or pornography"

(1970:446). They argue that definitional problems about obscenity and

pornography would continue rendering any future legislation ambiguous,

unenforceable, and open to excessive subjectivity by the police and

courts.

This stand by Larsen and Wolfgang might appear to be in contradiction

to the previous statements in which Larsen outlines the various effects of

mass communication. It would appear that Larsen is saying that this spe­

cific form of media content has no effect. What Larsen is stating is that

this material has no deleterious effect. "There is no substantial evi­

dence that exposure to juveniles is necessarily harmful. There may even

be beneficial effects if for no other reason than the encouragement of open discussion about sex between parents and children relatively early in young lives" (1970:447).

Klapper, however, has argued that the matter of the effects of mass media is not as clear as Larsen indicates. Klapper tentatively proposes that:

1. Mass communication ordinarily does not serve as a necessary and sufficient cause of audience effects, but rather functions among and through a nexus of mediating factors and influences.

2. These mediating factors are such that they typically render mass communications a contributory agent but not the sole cause in a process of reinforcing the existing conditions.

3. When mass communications do function in the area of change, either the mediating factors are inoperative, or the medi­ ating factors are themselves impelling toward change.

4. The efficiency of mass communication, either as a contributory agent or as an agent of direct action, is affected by various aspects of the media and communications themselves or of the communication setting (the nature of the source and medium. 12

the existing climate of public opinion, etc.) (1960:8).

In essence, then, rather than unequivocally stating that mass com­

munication has certain effects (e.g., Larsen), Klapper's approach attempts

to assess stimuli in terms of their contributions along with other influ­

ences operating in the same total observed situation.

Schramm (1957) is in agreement with Klapper when he indicates, "Mass

communication never acts by itself on an individual. Whatever effect mass

communication has, it will have jointly with other determining forces, of

which the most important are two; the individual's personality resources

and his group relationships" (53,54). Personality resources are those

values and attitudes built up over a period of time that govern one's re­

sponses to new as well as recurring experiences. By group relationships,

Schramm refers to those people one works with, plays with or lives with,

as well as the standards, customs, and opinions held in common. Man lives in groups, as small as the family or as large as society. Much of what one learns comes from group associations. The idea of a mass audience

"...an audience of separated individuals, receiving mass communication like a hypodermic needle under their individual skins, and reacting in­ dividual ly to it" (1957:54) is just not the case.

Man is far from a tabula rasa, or clean slate, for mass com­ munication to write on. By the time a voter sees a Presidential candidate on television he has had at least 21 years of experi­ ence with human beings. He has learned what to expect from political oratory....He has built up a sense of values which lead him to react positively or negatively to much of what the candidate will say....In other words, before he even sits down to the television set, he is prepared to react in a pre-set way to whatever comes out of it (Schramm, 1957:54,55).

What, then, are some of the readily-apparent effects of television as 13

a medium of its own? One apparent consequence is that "television, the

most massified of the mass media, the one with the largest and most het­

erogeneous audience, has become central to the leisure routine of major­

ities at every level" (occupational, educational, social and religious)

(Wilensky, 1964:195). '/Television has become a habit; it has taken up more

than its share of the increasing leisure (free) time" (Meyersohn, 1957:

360). "Television takes up more American leisure time than any other

activity" (Rosenberg and White, 1957:11). "Empirical data have indicated

that in homes with television as opposed to those which do not have, oc­ cupants do less reading and visiting than those without" (McDonagh, 1950:

115).

Some of the previous authors condemned television for the creation of passivity and the laying of the foundations of 1984. Not all writers agree. Danish argues that an objective of television viewing can be the enrichment of relationships within the family unit by the encouragement of healthy, interpersonal attitudes and behavior. Television can do this by presenting materials which have been created, at least in part, to ed­ ucate, to inform, to encourage or inspire. Danish's examples would in­ clude the various documentaries produced by the networks as well as the recurrent programs such as "Divorce Court". In addition, television, because of its strong appeal to children, provides an opportunity for parents to explore with their children the social and emotional aspects of human experience. Finally, it can be a focal point for a lesson in sharing and planning for family activities.

This writer is of the opinion that the television medium is pn im- 14

portant technological as well as social element of the third quarter of

the twentieth century. This is not to be denied. However, it is only one of many innovations of modern technology; to claim that television per se is the primary transmitter of all that is either socially desir­ able or undesirable is untenable. The impact of television must be in­ vestigated in a much broader context, a context that includes other media exposures, various group settings of the viewer, the predisposition of the viewer, etc. Therefore, one must be skeptical of any sweeping general­ izations that are made about the quality of the impact that television has had for the contemporary society. Certainly it has had an impact; the extent of that impact remains a matter of considerable debate.

The Statement of the Problem

Despite the many hours of exposure to television, our experiences are both limited and selective. It is impossible for any viewer to watch all of the programs that are available to him in just one day let alone over any extended period of time. Furthermore our knowledge about the content of the programs viewed is biased by personal tastes and ideas.

Charles Wright (1959) indicates that people tend to overgenera 1 ize from communication experiences. If one sees several instances of vio­ lence on television programs, then all programs are violent. Furthermore, seldom does one explore the sociologically meaningful aspects of the tele­ vision content.

With so little having been done on both the content and impact of television, it is necessary that further explorations be undertaken. This 15

project deals with television's portrayals of contemporary marriage and

family interaction. Specifically, the project focuses on television's

portrayals of the various behaviors displayed by the incumbents in the

status-roles of husband-father and wife-mother. Succinctly what are the

role behaviors that actors and actresses on television are displayinn as

they play these respective roles? The exploration of televised material

on the institution of marriage and family will provide not only insight

into the broad topic of television's effects, but will also provide ad­

ditional sociological data regarding this major institution.

The three major objectives of this project are: (1) to generate a

theoretical framework by which one can investigate television's marital

and familial role behavior, (2) to develop a method by which marital and

familial behaviors can be enumerated, and (3) to generate hypotheses for

future research.

One approach to the understanding of the relationship between media

content and the on-going society is provided by viewing the media as

social systems operating within a specific external system - the set of

social and cultural conditions composing the American society. Tele­

vision, as one mass medium, is a subsystem of the larger American system.

A very important aspect of a social system's approach is the concept of the "function" of some repetitive social phenomenon within the system.

The term "function" is synonymous with "consequence". An example, the repetitive practice of wearing a wedding ring by a married couple functions (or has the consequence) to remind them as well as others 16

that they exist as one couple. This practice contributes indirectly to

maintaining their marriage (one subsystem). This practice has the same

consequence for the institution of marriage and family (a subsystem of

society) at the societal level as well. (For further discussion on a

social system approach to mass communication see DeFleur, 1970; Chapter

8).

Although a functional approach to the content of television's por­

trayals relative to the institution of marriage and family provides in­

sight into how this subsystem works, this approach does not touch on the

issue of the "effects" of such content on the viewer. Secondly, a

functional approach is heuristic for generating hypotheses, though these

are not at present amenable to empirical testing. Therefore, a second

theoretical approach is necessary to explore the impact of televised

materials in a way that is testable.

The "cultural norms" theory assumes that mass communication can in­

fluence behavior. The theory postulates that the media may sustain

existing patterns of behavior, alter existing patterns, or create new

ones. "Since individual behavior is usually guided by cultural norms (or

the actor's impression of what the norms are) with respect to a given

topic or situation, the media would then serve indirectly to influence conduct" (DeFleur, 1970:129). In social psychological terms, media may provide a "definition of the situation" which may be taken by a medium user to be real. This definition provides guides for action which appear to be approved and supported by society. One's behavior is, therefore, shaped by exposure to mass media. The link between a functional analysis 17

of television and a cultural norms approach is created by postulating that a function of television is to "define the situation" in such a way as to support the American system. Specifically, television functions to socialize its viewers by "defining the situation" of the institution marriage and family by giving attention to certain cultural norms or values relative to this institution. The behaviors of television's hus­ bands and wives may be perceived as being reflective of society's expec­ tations, and, therefore, may serve as models of socially approved be­ haviors. An outline of such behaviors is noticeably absent from socio­ logical literature. 18

CHAPTER II. THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Functional Analysis of Mass Communication

Assuming that society is a social system, there are many parts or

components working together to keep that system going. These parts may

be called "subsystems". One of these subsystems is mass communication.

For this project, television as one medium of mass communication is iso­

lated for investigation. However, it functions in the same manner as

does mass communication in maintenance of society.

The American society is a social system composed of stable, repeti­

tive, and patterned actions that reflect the culture shared by members of

society. Television, as a subsystem, provides viewers with stimuli that

are socially and culturally based. To the extent that television broad­

casts material consonant with socio-cultural expectations, it assists in

maintaining the on-going social system. It is imperative that if the

social system is to remain, the normative expectations of the various

members of the society must be integrated by some common system of norms,

values, mores, laws, etc. If these were not shared, the society could not

remain. Television functions by broadcasting materials consonant with

these expectations; in part this explains the ubiquity and extensive use

of television in the United States.

The concept of a social system relates to television in that the

latter functions to help maintain the common social and cultural external

system. However, before continuing with this, a few words of clarification on the use of "function" in sociology. In defining "functions" one dis- 19

covers several meanings, not all of which are applicable to sociological

usage. Succinctly, the various meanings are:]

1. a social gathering (The function of the telethon...)

2. one's occupation (He functions as a...)

3. the activities assigned to the incumbent of a social position (The janitor's functions are...)

4. mathematical (X is a function of...)

5. in reference to the maintenance of the total organism (The function of A is to...)

It is the last meaning that has prevailed in sociology. A functional anal­

ysis in sociology focuses upon some specific social phenomenon occurring

within a social system. An analysis would attempt to display how this

phenomenon has consequences or functions for the stability and maintenance

of the system. This analysis is, then, a technique for generating hypoth­

eses. As indicated by Hempel:

The object of the (functional) analysis is some item "i" which is a relatively persistent trait or disposition... occuring in a system "s"...; and the analysis aims to show that "s" is in a state, or internal condition "c^" and in an environment presenting certain external conditions "c " such that under conditions "c " and "c^" (jointly referred to as "c") the trait "i" has effects which satisfy some "need" or functional re­ quirement of s.i.e., a condition which is necessary for the system's remaining in adequate, or effective, or proper, working order. (In DeFleur, 1970:162).

A functional approach is theoretically concerned about the consequences of various persistent traits that assist in maintaining the larger external system. However, the empirical investigation of the interrelatedness of these traits and the maintenance of the social system is difficult if not

^Merton, 1968, Chapter III. 20

impossible to do. This is a major weakness of the functional approach.

Conceptually, then, the content of mass media reflects a common value

system and as such assists in maintaining the external social system. "The

hypothesis that the mass media reflect value systems, satisfy needs of so­ ciety, whether consciously or unconsciously held, furnishes the theoretical

basis for extensive research in which the content of films and other mass media are analyzed" (Fearing, 1954:168).

An analysis utilizing a functional approach may consist of numerous

"functions" of a given social phenomenon for the larger social system.

Charles Wright (1964) has outlined various functions that television as a part of mass communication may have for contemporary society. His four major functions are presented in the following figure.

American Society 1 Cultural Surveillance Correlation Transmission Entertainment

Functions

Figure 2

Major functions of mass communication

The above functions, of course, are interrelated and can't be completely isolated in the "real world". However, cultural transmission and enter­ tainment are the primary functions for theoretical consideration; the interrelatedness of these will be discussed later.

Before continuing, one must also consider that these functions may be 21

one of three types;

Manifest functions - the objective consequences for a specified unit (person, subgroup, social, cultural system) which contrib­ utes to its adjustment or adaptation and were so intended.

Latent functions - the unintended and unrecognized consequences on the same order as above.

Dysfunctions - the consequences which have a deleterious effect on the integration or adaptation of the unit.

For example, the manifest function of entertainment is amusement and res­

pite for the masses. Latently, entertainment increases social cohesion and

continues the socialization process. Some (Anders, 1957; Hausknecht, 1957)

would argue that the dysfunctions of entertainment include the debasement

of culture.

Returning to Wright's functions, consider what it means to society and

its individual members to have available a constant flow of data on events

occurring not only within this society but the whole world as well.

Survei1 lance can provide warnings about immediate threats such as tornadoes.

Forewarned, the populace can be better prepared. Secondly, surveillance is

instrumental in providing institutional data such as what the stock market

is doing, the various court proceedings, etc.

Survei11ance through mass communication can also be dysfunctional. If

news were not censored and editorialized, this might threaten the social order by fostering invidious comparisons with conditions at home. For a recent example, the presentation of the materials, people, and govern­ mental agencies associated with the "Pentagon Papers" could be potentially dangerous to the social system if everything were made known to the popu­ lace. Perhaps the best example of a dysfunctional effect associated with 22

mass communication is the frequently-cited Orson Welles' broadcast of "An

Invasion from Mars"; the radio story was presented as if it were a news

broadcast which seemed to have incited panic in many viewers (Cantril et

al., 1940). Subsequently, the same broadcast was aired in Quito,

Ecuador. When these listeners found out it was a hoax, they burned the

radio station.

The second function as presented by Wright concerns interpretation

and prescription by the mass media. This refers to the prevention of such

undesirable consequences as those above. This function includes not only

reporting the objective facts, but also providing an interpretation of the

importance and relevance associated with each news item. Some would argue

that the entry of some reporters into the interpretation realm is actually

dysfunctional for the society in that it enhances conformism because all the people have the same item interpreted the same way for them. This may weaken one's own critical faculties. Others would argue that interpreta­ tion is necessary to prevent the broadcasting of undesirable materials.

The question then becomes, "Who decides what is undesirable?" This is the underlying issue of censorship.

Cultural transmission refers to the enlargement of a common core of values, norms, and experiences. It assists in standardizing stimuli in that mass media present the same package across a wide range of people.

Also it serves as an agent for learning even after one has completed formal education.

Entertainment primarily is to provide respite for the masses. With a decreasing work week, an increasing population, an ever-enlarging aggre­ gate of people may be utilizing mass media as a substitute for previous 23

work activity. It is, then, a major recreational form.

Additional functions of mass communication include status conferral,

ethicizing, narcotization and canalization. The function of "status con­

ferral" enhances persons' social positions by the attention given them by

mass communication (Lazarsfeld and Merton, 1948). After all, if the media

are going to spend time and money with this presentation, these people

must be important; so might go the reasoning behind this function.

Further, they suggested the mass media function as an "ethicizing" or

norm enforcement agency. If certain social conditions are exposed as being

at variance with social mores, ecology, laws, etc., action may be forth­ coming as a result of exposure by the media. Various newspaper writers or editors may feel that they are to be the "watchdogs" of their community, state, or nation and, as such, are always looking for things that appear to be "wrong".

Mass communications may also function as a narcotizing agent. Suc­ cinctly, since people have been exposed to all sorts of natural disasters, floods, famines, pestilence, violence, etc., via mass communications, they are, in a sense, anesthetized to becoming involved. People are able to remain aloof from the problems of the world. Such problems just don't bother them (Lazarsfeld and Merton, 1948).

Schramm (1957:1) indicates that mass communication may have a "canal­ izing" function. In essence this refers to the identification of personal needs or habits accompanied by media suggestions as to how these needs, wants, or habits may be satisfied. For example, assuming that women have a desire to smoke tobacco products other than cigarettes, advertisers have been increasingly creating the impression that small cigars or "Tiparillos" 24

are suitable for them. Note also that a few years ago a similar advertis­

ing campaign was marketed portraying women sneaking a cigarette in the

basement or attic. The same advertisement today would seem quite out of

place. Women smoking cigarettes is quite common now.

Each of the above functions could be theoretically explored for its

unique contributions to the social system. Yet each is interrelated with

the others; all must work together to protect and maintain the common in­

tegrated, cultural orientations. This is their principle and general

function. The maintenance of the system (society) may be referred to as

the "socio-cultural integration" function. The repetition of various

social phenomena, regardless of their unique functions, have, because they

are all interrelated, socio-cultural integration as their ultimate goal.

The socio-cultural integration function can be accomplished in several

ways by the mass media. They can present only material that is consonant

with the social and cultural norms and values. They can fail to present materials that may be dysfunctional to the system; or they can present new normative and cultural material. "The extent that mass communication has an influence upon the audience has stemmed not only from what is said, but more significantly from what is not said. For these media not only contin­ ue to affirm the status quo but "...they fail to raise essential questions about the structure of society" (Lazarsfeld and Merton, 1957:465). Mass media tend to maintain the system by the emission or omission of material.

The few critical reviews of the system are lost in the flood of the more conformist materials. Even if a medium were to present non-conformist ma­ terials, these would be surrendered in the clash with economic gains. 25

Sensitive and non-conformist material may have to be omitted because of

economic pressures.

It is not to be implied that by presenting only materials that are

consonant with the maintenance of the system, that dysfunctions will not

occur. On the contrary, not presenting all viewpoints or sides of an issue

may be dysfunctional for members of the society. For example, mass media

generally omit the presentation of:

1. the elite individual who gains unfair advantage in an undemocratic yet successful manner

2. the shortcomings of particular religious functionaries such as clergy, or the selfish rather than altruistic physician,

3. the critical review and analysis of our national or community values or standards,

4. the shortcomings of people in important roles such as mother, judge, chief executives, etc. (Breed, 1964:114)

An earlier comment by Robin Williams is appropriate;

It is as if there is a tacit agreement not to express or to become aware of what would be dysfunctional. We greatly need careful research in this area, for observation always shows the existence of a mass of specific devices for the suppression of disruptive elements. We suspect that a study of areas of blocked communication would often reveal conflicts that re­ main nondisabling only so long as they are kept from overt crystallization (1951:529).

As an example, the norms surrounding "motherhood" emphasize the point of the above discussion. Even in cases where it was obvious to the reporters present that this was not the case, mothers are reported as being devoted, concerned, affectionate, etc. In one instance, a mother whose child was undergoing major surgery displayed no apparent concern but, being very conscious of the presence of the reporters, was reported as being the deeply concerned, prayerful mother in the bedside manner so much stressed 26

in the value system surrounding motherhood (Breed, 1964). Court records

as well as many hospital records show many cases of child abuse or mis­

treatment inflicted upon the children by their parents. Yet relatively

few get any attention from the mass media. More generally the media stress

virtues such as duty to one's country, obedience, and affection (Albrecht,

» 1956:724). Patriotism or national ethnocentrism is also deeply rooted and

protected by the media. Whenever an individual is accused of disloyalty,

unfavorable discussion is carried by the media. "He cannot be dramatized

as an individual or a leader, only as a 'controversial'...person under

suspicion" (Breed, 1958:192). Yet recent news coverage has given consid­

erable attention to activities that may be considered by some to be dis­

loyal and unpatriotic. For example, considerable attention was focused on

Daniel Ellsberg and his release of the "Pentagon Papers", the trial of the

avowed communist Angela Davis, the "Peace Advocates", etc. Of course, this

coverage appears to be only a minute part of the total national news cover­

age. However, it is rather interesting to speculate what kind of coverage

these same people would have gotten in the early I960's when the United

States was first getting involved in the Indo-China conflict. What the

media present as well as what they omit can be seen as functional to the

maintenance of the social system, assisting in the socio-cultural inte­

gration function.

The socio-cultural integration function is not limited to any partic­

ular medium. Comics and magazines are similar to the electronic media in

their presentations of social and cultural materials. Briefly, the comics

present stories that are meaningful to the majority of Americans. In many cases the reader "role takes" and identifies with the characters in the 27

strip (Bogart, 1957:192). Johns-Heine notes that successful career girls

presented in the Saturday Evening Post are shown to suffer for having

careers, having an overburden of personal and professional tasks. They

appear to be less secure as a mother and housewife. "The hero, because of

this identification (reader with hero in vicissitudes as well as rewards)

becomes an important vehicle of social values - the carrier of specific

American values and traditions" (Johns-Heine, 1957:226),

Hatch and Hatch (1958) investigated magazine stories published in 1956

and 1957 for stories dealing with working wives and mothers and the prob­

lems as well as solutions suggested by the writers. Most of the magazine

stories presented favorable impressions about women working (at least part-

time). They neglected all the problems that a working wife and mother may

have such as conflict with her family, lack of job security and seniority,

the energy needed to work in two locations, etc. The omission of such

problems is consonant with socio-cultural integration because more women are entering the labor force. Nevertheless, this omission may be dysfunc­

tional for some of the working women involved.

Socio-cultural integration is facilitated by stereotyping of certain minority groups as well as by the re-enforcement of certain social preju­ dices. Social prejudice as well as stereotyping is done in subtle and harmless ways, providing the reader or viewer these stereotypes in a rather unobtrusive fashion. Berelson (1957) indicated that the magazine readers were constantly and indirectly exposed to these prejudices and that these prejudices were never confronted as such. An investigation of the magazine presentations of majority and minority Americans showed that the minority characters were under-represented in light of their proportion of the 28

population and that they were often depicted as disapproved characters.

The approved characters (being of the majority) were presented as likeable,

personable, wise, desirable, upright, honest, etc. (Berelson, 1957). No attempt was made to correct the various impressions left by these magazine articles and stories. Therefore, it is possible for the readers who need to utilize stereotyping and social prejudices in their daily activities to find support and justification in magazine fiction.

In comparison to what has been done with written material, television content analyses are scarce. However, some have been done and will be reported below. Others will be included in a later unit on "effects".

"Television as a medium seems to be highly responsive to the conservative, conventional values," according to Sydney Head (1954:178). He goes on to note that "...drama deals with social values and attitudes, much of the time on an unconscious level" (192). It would appear that television along with the other media likewise presents material that supports the major value systems.

The findings of several television studies illustrate how television functions to maintain society's expectations by broadcasting materials consonant with those orientations. The first study analyzing 86 drama programs broadcast in New York City was done by Smythe. A list of his findings include;

1. Most settings in the United States

2. Very young (under 20) and very old (over 60) underrepresented

3. Characters at the height of courting and child-bearing age.

4. Higher white collar positions such as managers and professionals oyerrepresented at the expense of the routine white and blue collar jobs. 29

5. Most of the characters were law abiding, healthy and sane

6. Most likely to be white Americans, occasionally European and rarely Negro. Absent altogether were Asian Indiana, Africans, and Asians

7. Male heroes outnumbered heroines 2 to 1

8. Heroes are usually younger than villains

9. In TV life, disregard for the norms is usually not heroic but undesirable.

10. White Americans have the edge over foreigners providing some 83% of the heroes as opposed to 69% of the villains. Heroic foreigners tended to be females (In Wright, 1959:81).

Another aspect of the same study illustrates the function of socio- cultural integration in which was applied a semantic differential in­ strument to the central characters with the following findings:

1. The heroes were evaluated as having personalities very much in conformity to cultural ideals - very brave, honest, clean, kind, fair, loyal, admirable, happy.

2. Villains were portrayed in an opposite fashion: ugly, deceit­ ful, cruel, unfair, disloyal, dirty, despicable.

3. Although the villains were not portrayed as being cowards, the heroes had more bravery and were sharper, smarter, and quicker.

4. The various occupational groups fare well as long as they were legitimate.

5. Some of the interesting differences between the various occu­ pations include:

a. scientists were rated as the least brave, slowest, dullest

b. teachers, though clean, kind, arid fair, were also the slowest, softest

c. lawyers were the dirtiest

d. doctors and entertainers had favorable personalities 30

e. criminals and illegal business operators had unfavor­ able personality characteristics

f. the housewives were basically similar to those of heroine (In Wright, 1959:82).

DeFleur (1964) investigated the occupational roles presented by tele­

vision. His analysis of the data for the state of Indiana displayed:

1. that most occupational roles were of the higher socio­ economic levels

2. that those roles portrayed were related to higher degrees of social power

3. that these characters were all handsome, well dressed, socially skilled, and intelligent

4. that certain occupations such as nurses and taxi drivers were respectively portrayed as cold and impersonal, burly and aggressive

5. that lower occupation workers were portrayed as slovenly, boorish, and ugly (62-71).

It is also interesting to note that DeFleur found that while almost fifty

percent of the males in the labor force in that state were actually in the

commerce or industry sectors, less than ten percent were in the same sec­

tors on television (1964:65). To what degree, then, does television con­

tent reflect reality is an important question.

Were there no isomorphy between television content and the real world of the viewer, television would have less appeal than it obviously does.

Because this content has meaning for or can be identified with by the viev'or, television's function as a socio-cultural integration agent is enhanced. Television serials involve some 48 million people each day, many of whom get very wrapped up in them. Two examples: when grandpa

Hughes of CBS's "As the World Turns" celebrated his 70th birthday in the script, Santos Ortega, who has played the role for fifteen years, received 31

some 200,000 birthday cards. Another example of viewer involvement was

when Dr. Matt Powers of "The Doctors" was being tempted by a beautiful

and seductive woman, thousands of viewers wrote to warn Dr. Maggie Powers,

his wife, about what was going on (Loercher, 1972).

The content of some serials has obvious functions for the viewers.

One broadcast of the CBS serial "Guiding Light" had a medical function

(enlightening the viewers on the necessity of an annual medical examina­

tion) by presenting content on uterine cancer. This presentation prompted

several thousand letters from viewers who wrote to indicate that they got

Pap smears because of the show. On the ABC serial "One Life to Live" ex-

drug addicts in actual group sessions appeared on several episodes. NBC

negotiated with Billy Graham about a possible return appearance on "Return

to Peyton Place" to preach against drug use (Pierce, 1973:39). It would

appear that the viewers do get information as well as entertainment from

these serials. In addition, apparently the producers feel that they have

a strong medium of influence in the serial stories if they are going to

the trouble and expense trying to recruit such a person as Billy Graham.

If one assumes that television serials are an extension of previous

radio serials, Herzog's (1954) findings are relevant to the socio-cultural

integration provided by the medium of television. In her survey of 2500

listeners, 41% claimed that they had been helped by listening to the pro­ grams; 28% claimed no help, with the remainder uncertain. In a follow-

up study of 150 of these people, she asked for specific examples of as­ sistance given by the programs. In several cases, the interviewees re­

ported help with their husbands, children, and other personal problems.

Robinson (1971), in his review of several research projects on the 32

effects of television writes:

Majorities of viewers claimed their favorite dramatic programs to be both realistic and instructive. Programs receiving par­ ticularly high mention in this regard were soap operas and the medical programs like Marcus Welby, M.D. and Medical Center. Respondents say they derive lessons and solutions to real life problems from soap operas and acquire medical knowledge from 'doctor' programs. (588)

Viewers may not only learn obviously useful material, they may also learn

from violent content; violence, too, has a function. Gerbner (1971) in­

dicates that symbolic violence has the function of showing how to avoid or

utilize violence in everyday activities. Likewise Larsen et al. (1963)

demonstrated that the use of violence may be a socially approved mechanism for achieving certain desired ends. Even violence which violates several

American mores and values may contribute to socio-cultural integration.

Such presentations function to maintain the social system by showing what can happen to those who deviate too much. However, should one find social­ ly approved means to socially accepted goals blocked, these same presenta­ tions may show deviant ways of attaining the same goals. Generally, such ways are not broadcast as previously noted (Breed, 1964, Williams, 1951).

In summary, television as a subsystem functions to maintain the ex­ ternal social system. This it does by emitting or omitting content that facilitates socio-cultural integration. The functional approach is heu­ ristic for generating but not testing hypotheses. Therefore, an addition­ al theory is needed to provide a framework by which one can generate testable hypotheses. This is done by the cultural norms theory. Figure

3 provides an overview of the various functions of television and their interrelatedness with the cultural norms theory. Functions of Mass Communication

Cultural Transmission Correlation Survei11ance Entertai nment

Status Conferral Narcotization Symbolic Violence

^og^io^j^uHural

Cultural-Norms Theory

Sqci al i zation

Televised Husband-Father, Wife-Mother Role Models

Figure 3

Overview of the theoretical framework (Functions from Wright, 1964) 34

The Cultural Norms Theory

The cultural norms theory assumes that mass media content may influ­

ence individual behavior. In essence, the cultural norms theory

postulates that the mass media, through selective presentations and the emphasis of certain themes, creates impressions among their audiences that common cultural norms concerning the em­ phasized topics are structured or defined in some specific way. Since individual behavior is usually guided by cultural norms (or the actor's impression of what the norms are) with respect to a given topic or situation, the media would then serve in­ directly to influence conduct (DeFleur, 1970:129).

In social psychological terms, the media could provide a "definition of

the situation" which the actor may believe to be real.

Theoretically, there are three ways in which the media can influence

norms and the definitions of the situation for individuals. First, the content can reinforce existing patterns and lead people to believe that given social forms are being maintained by the society. Secondly, the media can create new shared convictions about topics with little saliency or knowledge on the part of the populace. Finally, the media can change existing norms, thereby converting people from one form of behavior to another (DeFleur, 1970).

Concerning the first relationship, Lazarsfeld and Merton (1957) main­ tain that the media operate conservatively and follow public norms in mat­ ters of taste, etc. Thus, they indicate that the media reinforce the sta­ tus quo rather than create new norms that may lead to change in tradition.

This would be supported by the material presented earlier (pages 26-32) on the content of the media. However, it should be noted that the media do try to get people to change trivial things such as clothes, cars, dance styles, etc., though none of them have as yet actively come out in 35

favor of controversial behavior such as mate swapping or "swinging". How­

ever, only recently the media have presented various opinions on the lib­

eralized abortion issue.

The media may create new patterns of behavior which do not contravene

acceptable patterns of behavior. In the 1950's every boy had to have a

"Davy Crockett" coonskin cap. The "hula hoop", the "mouseketeers", the

screams of Tarzan echoing throughout suburbia, are additional examples of

the creation of new patterns of behavior. The millions spent each year on advertising are geared to the creation of a desire for something new - a

better smell, a new car, etc. Perhaps the ability of the media to create new patterns of behavior is epitomized by the now accepted cultural value that people should smell good; everyone must utilize some deodorant, men included.

The issue of whether or not the media can change existing patterns of behavior remains a rather thorny one, for research is not conclusive. Cur­ rent media campaigns against smoking such as those by the American Cancer

Society are intended to convert people from smoking to nonsmoking. There is some evidence to indicate that the nonsmoking campaigns have been suc­ cessful. From the National Center for Health Statistics, the World Almanac

(1973) reports that "from 1965 to 1970 the number of cigarette smokers in the adult population (17 years or older) declined from 41.6% to 36.7%"

(955). The drop was more dramatic among men - from 51.0% to 43.2% in 1970.

For women, the decline was from 33.2% to 30.9% (955). However, the pro­ portion of heavy smokers went up. For smokers of all ages, both male and female, the proportion of 2 packs-a-day smokers went up "...about 2%, to include 14.7% men and 8.0% of women smokers" (955). It would appear that 36

although cigarette commercials have been banned from television, and all

cigarette packs have the Surgeon General's warning on them, usage remains

high.

Why may the media fail to alter certain behavior patterns? One ex­

planation provided by Schramm is that the user of any mass medium is not

an isolated being but that he is a group member, a group that may be re­

inforcing behavior patterns that are in contradiction to those presented

by mass media. As Riley and Riley indicated, "...it seems that the re­

cipient of a mass communication message is rarely reached directly in his

role as an anonymous and isolated member of a bureaucracy or mass society.

Rather the message is mediated through or is important because of the groups to which he belongs" (1959:558). A summary of DeFleur's (1970) commentary indicates that mass media:

1. can re-inforce cultural norms

2. can activate a considerable amount of behavior providing it is consistent with the needs of the individual. (The classic example is the Kate Smith marathon radio broadcasts which sold 15 million dollars worth of war bonds in a single day.)

3. can create new norms in areas of behavior which are not cur­ rently controlled by strong socio-cultural constraints

Because of the cultural norms theory's basic assumption that at least some behavior changes may be produced by mass communications, it is this theory which is at the heart of the debate over the violent content of some media. Therefore, it is necessary to digress and review some of the material on media violence, especially that of television.

Joseph KTapper is quick to point out that media effects may not be as definitive as some writers present. He notes that several areas of concern exist concerning media effects. 37

1. The concern that the consequences are undesirable.

2. That such material elicits direct, initiative behavior - people do things because they saw them on television.

3. That media depictions of crime and violence constitute a shcool for delinquency.

4. That crime in the media will have a kind of trigger effect which will become operative among persons in situations of reduced normal resistance.

5. That the creation of an undesirable general value orientation that crime is normal.

6. That beneficial social effects such as vicarious identifi­ cation with media might serve as an outlet for aggression (1960:140).

Furthermore, Klapper notes (1) that the statistics on the display of

violence on television are ambiguous and lack conciseness; (2) the def­

inition of violence is so broad that one must question its validity; (3)

the violence is fictional; and (4) little is known about the relationship

of the incidence of violence in media programs and effects (1960:138).

The largest as well as most recent compilation of papers and relevant

data concerning the effects of televised violence on the viewer is the

U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Television and Social

Behavior (1971). The major emphasis of the report deals with the effects

of violent content and the attitudes and behaviors of children.

Before one can deal with the media's effects on violence, one must

investigate the nature of the content. A major contribution was made by

G. Gerbner (1971) in which an analysis of dramatic programs, plays and cartoons is reported for 1967 through 1969. Gerbner's assumption behind

his investigation of this entertainment content is "...that the almost ritualistically regular and repetitive symbolic structure of television 38

drama cultivates certain premises about the rules of the game of life.

Violence plays an important role in that game" (1971:30). Cornstock and

Rubenstein note; "If it is posited that television is a source of informa­

tion about real life, despite the fictional or fantasy guise of entertain­

ment, the lesson is that life is violent, that violence often succeeds,

that moral goodness and violent behavior may coincide, and that victim­

ization is a common occurrence" (1971:2).

Gerbner's definition of violence was "...the overt expression of phy­

sical force against others or self, or the compelling of action against

one's will on pain of being hurt or killed" (1971:31). Furthermore, the

agent of violence could be any type of creature, and the act accidental or

intentional. Succinctly Gerbner's findings for 1967 through 1969 were:

1. The prevalence of violence did not change markedly from 1967 through 1969. In each of the three years, about 8 out of 10 plays contained violence, and violent episodes occurred at the rate of five per play and eight per hour.

2. The frequency of verbal violence declined markedly and the pervasiveness of character's participation in vio­ lence declined somewhat.

3. Violence increased in programing most specifically aimed at young children - cartoons. Any decline in violence is attributable to television plays, which presumably are aimed at adults.

4. Cartoons were responsible for less than one-third of all violent episodes in 1967» but accounted for more than half in I969 (Comstock and Rubenstein, 1971:4-12).

As for the quality of the violence, (where and when it occurs, who participates, and in what ways different kinds of people are involved) over the three-year period (a weekly sample from each season's schedule)

1,355 violent episodes involving 762 leading characters were recorded

(Gerbner, 1971:32). Law enforcement representatives were portrayed as 39

increasingly violent; 60%, 72%, and 77% of them in 1967, 1968, 1969 respec­

tively. Weapons (other than body means) were used in about half of all

violent episodes. In cartoons, the use of weapons was up from 52% to 83%.

However, the number of fatalities decreased; the "body count" dropped from

82 in 1967 to 46 in 1969. In 1967 and 1968, there was an injury in nearly

every violent episode. This dropped from 1 in 3 in 1967 and 1968 to 1 in

10 in 1969 (Gerbner, 1971:46).

Most of the televised violence occurred between strangers (unlike

real life) and tended to be related to personal gain, power, or duty,

rather than to social issues. Also there was a lack of violence portrayed

in the family setting. Most of the violence was inflicted by non-whites,

foreigners, and persons of lower socio-economic status (Gerbner, 1971:48).

Gerbner (1971:42), in discussing the symbolic functions of violence,

notes that these "...may be easiest to perform in settings relatively re­

mote, unfamiliar, exotic, farcical, and unaffected by the need or oppor­

tunity for reality testing on other factors in the viewers every day experi­

ences." Gerbner postulates that "symbolic violence is one of society's

chief instruments for achieving the aims of real violence without having

to commit any. Symbolic hurt to symbolic people and causes can show real

people how they might use - or avoid - force to stay alive and to advance

their causes" (1971:44).

Larsen et al. (1963) also noted from their analysis of television

programs that violence was a major mechanism to goal achievement. When

the goals (property, self-preservation, affection, sentiment, power, pres­ tige, psychological, other) were combined with methods (legal, non-legal, economic, violence, organizational, escape, chance, other) into the cate- ko

gories of socially approved, socially disapproved, or either, the primary

mechanism that provided the greatest likelihood of goal achievement is in

the disapproved or either category (193).

Goldsen (1971) indicates in her article on television violence that

violence is stylized. It presents only young men against older men. Even

if the violence is done by one playing the "father" role, this is usually

displayed in a fashion extraneous to that role. In addition, violence is

usually congruent with one's occupation such as policeman, detective, spy,

etc.

Whereas the above material dealt with the violent content of tele­ vision dramas, movies, and cartoons, additional information concerning possible effects of such content is also reported in Television and Social

Behavior (1971). Liebert notes that observational learning or "...the way in which the behavior of children (and adults) changes as a function of exposure to the behavior of others..." is of primary concern to investi­ gators because research on films has indicated that children do learn un­ familiar behaviors (1971:2).

The question of learning is not easily answered. Whether or not one learns and subsequently acts on what he has learned is a multi-staged process. The observer (1) must be exposed to certain cues or stimuli, (2) must acquire and be able to reproduce what he heard or saw, and (3) may accept or reject these cues as a model for his own actions. Step three may involve direct imitation or disinhibition. On the other hand, the effects of modeling may produce counter-imitative effects. Counter-imita­ tive effects would be those which would decrease the individual's likeli­ hood of adopting specific behavior patterns. This could occur because the 41

individual's sense of guilt or shame was increased after having viewed

certain stimuli. In addition, exposure and acquisition may occur without

the observer accepting or adopting what he has seen or heard. Figure 4,

page 42, displays this multi-staged process.

The question of observational learning is in essence the heart of

Klapper's concern about media effects noted previously. However, it must

again be noted that the HEW material deals only with the effects of vio­

lence. Nevertheless, it can serve as a launching pad for both theoretical

as well as empirical investigations into other relevant areas.

Since "...it has been shown convincingly that children are exposed to

a substantial amount of violent content on television, and that they can remember and learn from such exposure" (Liebert, 1971:29), many attempts have been made to test the matter of effects. The first question deals with learning or the acquisition of behavior patterns. Acquisition is the ability to reproduce previously unfamiliar acts as a function of observa­ tional learning. Another concept - acceptance - is also very important in discussing the matter of effects. As distinguished from acquisition, ac­ ceptance is the adoption of some behavior patterns learned from observation that may be utilized by the observer at some future time. (Liebert (1971:

3,4) notes;

If a child has learned some new behavior, then he clearly possesses the potential to produce it if (or when) he finds himself in a sit­ uation in which such a performance appears to be desirable, useful, or likely to serve his own purposes. Thus, although learning does not necessarily lead to action, it does make possible the perform­ ance of otherwise unavailable forms of social responses.

Acquisition, then, is at the cognitive level while acceptance is at the behavioral level. DIRECT IMITATION

observer is more likely to perform acts of the model which he has observed modeling cues are acquired or recalled IMITATIVE EFFECTS

DISINHIBITION

observer is more likely to perform acts of the same class as performed by the model

DIHECT COUNTER- IMITATION observation of observer is less likely to 11ve or symbol 1c perform acts of the model modeling he has observed

COUNTER-IMITATIVE EFFECTS

INHIBITION modeling cues ar not acqui red or observer is less likely to [recalled perform acts of the same class as performed by the model

NONIMITATION

no performance change

EXPOSURE ACQUISITION ACCEPTANCE (measured by observer's ability (Measured by observer's spontaneous to reproduce the model's behavior performance (in situations where when asked to do so) he is not instructed as to how he should behave). Figure 4

The stages of observational learning (Liebert, 1971:5) 43

Commencing with the acquisition of material, the results from the

study of Sesame Street serve as an example, "We now know that television

programs can be designed both to be attractive to preschool children and

to lead to positive effects on their cognitive development" (Stevenson,

1971:366). Most of the research has been directed at the negative effects,

such as the investigation of the acquisition and adoption of aggressive

behavior. Stevenson argues that more ought to be done to investigate the

benefits that may be obtained from television production.

Studies of novel aggressive behavior have indicated that quite young children can acquire these patterns. Work by Bandura, Hicks and others have demonstrated that children can learn novel aggressive behavior pat­ terns toward inanimate rather than human objects (Liebert, 1971). Recall­ ing particular physical acts does not necessarily mean that the viewer will recall or even understand the more subtle plot theme. Liefer and

Roberts (1971) note on this matter that kindergarteners could answer only one-third of the questions about either motives or consequences, third graders only about half, and twelfth graders about 95%. "The data reviewed

...suggest that children are likely to acquire, with the level of repeated exposure that takes place, a good deal of the aggressive repertoire that they see in televised violence...but the question of whether they accept this material as a guide for their own actions remains..." (Liebert, 1971:

12). Yet Lei fer and Roberts (1971 :124) contend:

There is rather clear evidence that exposure to current tele­ vision programs that include aggressive acts produces greater subsequent aggression than one would find without such exposure. This effect increases as children mature to early adolescence and then decreases through adolescence. None of these results are, of course, in themselves the final proof-positive of anything. 44

Apparently children as well as adults can acquire material from tele­

vision exposure. However, acquisition does not automatically mean accept­

ance. There would appear to be instances of direct imitative behavior such

as the youth who was stabbed while he and his friends re-enacted scenes

from the movie "Rebel Without a Cause" which was presented on television

(Liebert, 1971:13), or the youth who attempts to fly such as does Superman.

General (and less dramatic) instances of imitative behavior after tele­

vision viewing have been demonstrated in an experimental laboratory set­

ting. Bandura (1965) had children watch a series of aggressive acts di­

rected at a plastic doll clown. Those children who had been shown the

aggressor as being rewarded or receiving no negative consequences at all,

showed a high level of direct imitation. Those that had been shown the aggressor as being punished showed counter imitation or fewer aggressive responses toward the clown.

Lyle and Hoffman (1971) asked first graders whether they had ever copied behavior they had seen on television. Sixty percent indicated that they had. Much of this imitated behavior was done in play activities. It is interesting to note that "in life situations, the most powerful effects of aggressive modeling may often occur under circumstances where they can­ not be observed by parents or other adults" (Liebert, 1971:14).

A variety of correlational studies have indicated a relationship between objective ratings of television programs reportedly viewed by youngsters and deviant behavior patterns as measured by several indices

(Maclntyre and-Teevan, 1971). These investigators found a positive rela­ tionship between the violence ratings of viewers' favorite programs and the expressed approval of violence. Dominick and Greenberg (1971) in their 45

questionnaire study of 434 fourth through sixth grade boys enrolled in

Michigan public schools in 1970, indicated that exposure to television

violence was related to the boys' approval of the willingness to use vio­

lence, as measured by the Sears Anti-social Aggression Scale. Exposure was

also positively related to the boys' perceptions of its effectiveness when

used. In a replicate study of girls, similar relationships were discovered.

In another correlational study conducted by McLeod, Atkinr, and

Chaffee (1971), the relationship between viewing of televised violence and

a variety of aggressive behaviors in two large samples of adolescents (one

from Maryland and the other from Wisconsin) was also positive. In their

own words;

Our research shows that among both boys and girls at two grade levels (junior high and senior high) the more the child watches violent television fare, the more aggressive he is likely to be as measured by a variety of self-report measures....Partialing out (total) viewing time slightly reduces the positive corre­ lations of violence viewing and aggressive behavior in most cases, but the basic result is the same as for the raw corre­ lations....Similarly, the partialing out of socio-economic status and school performance does not alter the basic pattern of raw correlations....We may conclude, then, that adolescents viewing high levels of violent content on television tend to have high levels of aggressive behavior, regardless of television viewing time, socio-economic status, or school performance. These partials appear to rule out as alternative explanations simple television exposure, social status and general competence as a student (1971:239-274).

A longitudinal study by Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder and Huesman (1971), of 900 youngsters in a rural New York County, related children's aggressive

behavior (as peer rated) to various familial, social and experimental fac­ tors. The results of the ten year follow-up study showed that for boys the amount of aggression watched in the third grade was significantly re­

lated to peer ratings of aggression at age 19. 46

Léifer and Roberts (1971) investigated the willingness of children and

adolescents (kindergarten through 12th grade) to aggress after having

watched unedited television programs with varying degrees of violence.

They were presented with real life situations ("You are standing in line

for a drink of water. A kid comes along and pushes you out of line. What

do you do?") and asked to choose among a pair of alternatives - "Push them"

or "Go away". They found that the more violent the programs, the higher

the aggressive responses.

What if the material is thought to be real and not fiction? Feshbach

(1971) hypothesized that if the content is perceived as real, there is a

greater possibility of aggression via imitation, instruction, and disin-

hibition. In one experiment using 9-11 year old boys, three experimental

conditions were utilized: real aggression, fantasy aggression, and a

control. Those that were to be exposed to an aggressive presentation saw

a war movie and a police action sequence. The control saw a circus per­

formance. In one experiment, the groups exposed to the aggression films were told it was a Hollywood production. There was no difference between

those who viewed the Hollywood production (fantasy aggression) and the control group as measured by the "aggressive machine". (An instrument by which a subject could "shock" a non-cooperating partner.) In a subsequent experiment, the same action films were used, but the subjects were told it was real. Results on an adjective check list, administered pre- and post­ exposure to the films, indicated that those subjects exposed to the "re­ ality" film were more aggressive than the control group.

Another study was conducted in a summer nursery school by Stein and

Friedrich (1971). Three groups were systematically exposed to television 47

programs of different content for 20 minutes per day. The content was (1)

aggressive cartoons (Batman, Superman), (2) neutral, such as farming shows,

and (3) prosocial content (Mister Roger's Neighborhood). "The clearest

main effects of the television programs appeared on the self-controlling

behaviors. Children exposed to the prosocial television programs showed

higher levels of rule obedience, tolerance of delay, and persistence than

children exposed to the aggressive programs. Those in the neutral condi­

tion generally fell between the two television groups" (273).

Still another argument is that the content of mass communication that

appears harmful to the observer might be beneficial in that it deters neg­

ative behavior by providing a mechanism by which aggressions can be worked off vicariously. Such material may, however, affect people differently.

The average adolescent may not be harmed by the violent scenes, but an emotionally unstable child may be stimulated by them or find them re­ inforcing to his present behavior patterns (Maccoby, 1954). The question then becomes one of separating the average from the emotionally unstable adolescent and the strict review of mass media content. This would not seem to be feasible.

The previous discussion highlights some of the research that has been done on the question of "effects" of television exposure. A simple con­ clusion is that a viewer can acquire material but may not accept it as a model for his own behavior. These various studies lend support to the basic postulate of the cultural norms theory that media can influence behavior.

Keeping in mind the interrelatedness of the cultural norms theory and the functions of mass communication, some users find solutions to personal 48

problems in media presentations. Herzog (1954) indicates from her 1944

study of 2500 Iowa radio listeners, "...41% claimed to have been helped

...to deal better with the problems...(of) everyday life..." (25). Often

the advice was to remain calm and things will turn out all right in the

end. Klapper (I960) calls such problem solving presentations a "school of

life" function; to the degree that such presentations influence behavior,

the learning of solutions typifies the postulate of the cultural norms

theory. In other words, such presentations provide a normative pattern for problem solving.

Some of the adults in LoSciuto's study (1971) felt they learned about

the world, how to handle social situations, and how to cope with some

personal problems. Many also felt that television dramas reflected life realistically. LoSciuto (1971) cites findings that some parents used examples shown on television programs as models or support in interaction with children. In addition, he notes that in terms of patterns of tele­ vision use.

Dramatic shows (other than adventure and family situation comedies) are characterized by high levels of audience attention. (These are shows such as Marcus Wei by, Medical Center, Bracken's World, and soap operas)....More respondents said they planned to watch these dramatic shows and that they chose to watch them....More people said they watched these shows all the way through than was true for any other program type. Further, few reported talking while the show was on or carrying on potentially distracting activities. At the end of the program, most respondents in the dramatic show audience had good things to say about it. Compared with other shows, more respondents reported the program to have been really worth watching (1971:58).

LoSciuto continues:

Over 60 percent (of 252 families) listed entertainment and relax­ ation as the major reason for viewing. Another 18 percent said to 'kill time'. A minority (8 percent) said 'to keep up with what was going on' and four percent saying that they were participating 49

in a learning or self-improvement experience. Such reasons became even more prominent in second and third reasons for viewing. It would appear, therefore, that a substantial minority of viewers feel that their television viewing is not entirely a frivolous or escapist use of time (1971:59).

When LoSciuto's respondents were asked what they liked about their two

favorite fictional programs, they answered generally the good stories or

plots and personal effects such as "It makes me laugh" (1971:64). Addition­

al reasons "...commonly given for liking a program involved respondents'

perceptions that the program was realistic or portrayed things that could

happen and were happening in real life" (1971:63).

In pursuing the question of learning from television viewing, LoSciuto

reports:

For 56 percent of the dramatic programs mentioned, respondents said they did learn something from the programs; from 44 per­ cent respondents said they learned nothing. Surprisingly, the things most often reported as learned are how to solve prob­ lems - one's own problems is the case of soap operas or crime problems in the case of detective shows - and how people be­ have or react in various situations (1971:72).

Regarding the amount of realism the respondents perceived in the programs,

Twice as many respondents (60 percent) said their favorite programs showed 'life as it really is' than did not (30 per­ cent); the remaining 10 percent claimed it was only partially realistic. When asked to explain their answer about programs being realistic, the majority pointed out that things like this happen in real life....If many of these shows are drama or situation comedies, the fiction is evidently capable of yielding perceived insight into everyday real world trans­ actions (LoSciuto, 1971:72).

LoSciuto notes in his concluding remarks that, although the programs

may be fictional, there appears "...a fascinating interface of fantasy and real world concerns...and a fruitful area of future research...(into) the

perceived carryover of learning from programs to situations in the re­ spondent's life. In any event, many viewers evidently take the fiction- 50

all zed content of dramatic programs more seriously and literally than most

social thinkers and behavioral scientists have recognized" (1971:81,82).

Katzman (1972:212) on the potential impact of television serials

notes;

The almost-real ism of the characters and themes, the repetition due to slow pace, and the extremely large number of hours spent viewing soap operas indicate that these shows have great poten­ tial power. They can establish or reinforce value systems. They can legitimize behavior and remove taboos about discussing sensitive topics such as drugs and premarital sex.

Much of the preceding material leaves one with the impression that

media content (especially violence) does most definitely have an effect

on viewers. One might quickly, for example, assert that there is a causal

relationship between exposure to televised violence and subsequent ag­

gressive behavior patterns. Caution must be exercised at this point for

two reasons. The first reason is that the finding of a positive relation­

ship between exposure to violence and subsequent aggressive behavior pat­

terns was discovered by the use of three main research designs; the

laboratory experiment, the field study, and the correlational study.

The laboratory experiment typically uses control and experimental

groups; to the latter exclusively are the stimuli applied. By varying the

degree or amount of the stimuli (the independent variable), one can in­

vestigate the effects on the dependent variable. In comparison, one

could compare these findings with a control group not exposed to the vio­

lent content. Further criticisms include: laboratory experiments usu­ ally take place in an artificial and purposely designed setting, the 51

exposure is for a brief period of time, it may not appear to be real, and

it is difficult to generalize findings from a laboratory setting to the

outside world.

The field study lacks the conciseness and variable control provided

by the laboratory setting. However, the field study permits more realism

in that it is conducted in the real world as opposed to a laboratory.

Field study methods employ more measures which almost all investigators

consider relevant to aggression (Liebert, 1973:70). Generalizability of

findings to larger groups of people may be gained at the expense of tight

operational definitions.

A third approach to the issue of determining effects is the correla­

tional study. Often this approach accompanies the field study. The correlational method is used to determine if two (or more) variables are related; i.e. they vary together—is violence related to television exposure, for example. Even after finding a positive correlation (an increase or decrease in one variable is accompanied by the same trend in the other), this does not permit a generalization that one causes the other.

Furthermore, these studies view the individual in an isolated and anonymous setting. As Schramm notes, the viewer is not a "...separated individual receiving mass communication (in this case televised violence) like a hypodermic needle under their individual skins and reacting in­ dividually to it" (1957:54). Although the writer is quite certain that many, if not all of the previously-mentioned investigators would agree with Schramm, much of their writing fails to account for the social con­ text in which the viewer is situated. It is often not explicit that each 52

viewer regardless of age has a social history which will determine, in

part, his acquisition and/or adoption of aggressive behavior patterns.

Man also learns from interacting in this group settings. What he has

learned serves as criteria of evaluation of what he will acquire and/or

adopt in terms of cognitive and/or behavioral patterns.

One piece of information that does seem to emerge unscathed from the

various investigations cited (criticisms, reservations, and deficiencies

noted) is that the viewer, be he child or adult, may acquire certain pat­

terns of behavior. Whether or not he will adopt or accept these as stand­

ards for his own behavior is still inconclusive. Is it not possible that

the viewer may acquire and adopt media content that may be beneficial?

Most of the research has been done to investigate the possible negative

effects of mass communications. Positive effects are also possible.

Stevenson (1971) indicates that it is possible for children to learn or increase academic skills such as spelling, reading, and math from such programs as Sesame Street. Is not the whole instructional media program including educational television based on the premise that the viewer can learn as well and perhaps better than be the more conventional means? As noted by Stein and Friedrich in discussing the impact of television view­ ing on their nursery school children:

...the equally important implications which can be drawn from the data are those that support the belief that television can play an important role in the positive social development of children (1971:276).

These writers were specifically discussing a children's program "Mister

Roger's Neighborhood". However, their conclusions could be generalized to indicate that positive effects as well as negative are possible from 53

television viewing.

The Socialization Process for Marital and Familial Roles

Men and women behave differently from each other in American society.

The average child of three is already able to tell some of the differences.

However, men and women do noÇ^'ust happen to behave differently from one

another. There are differences that are systematic and prescribed. In

sociological terminology these differences for each sex are called "sex

roles".

The central concept "role" concerns those "...prescriptions for inter­

personal behavior which are associated with particular socially recognized categories of persons. Such categories are referred to as statuses or positions" (Heiss, 1968:3). Role theory operates from two basic assump­ tions. It assumes that role prescriptions are learned, and, secondly, that when people interact with others, they see themselves and these others as occupants of particular statuses. They are given guides for action by what they learn or know are the expectations associated with these statuses.

The learning of roles or socialization

refers to the process whereby individuals acquire the per­ sonal system properties - the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, needs, and motivations...which shape their adapta­ tion to the physical and socio-cultural setting in which they live. The critical test of the success of the social­ ization process lies in the ability of the individual to perform well in the statuses - that is to play the roles - in which he may later find himself. The subtlety and com­ plexity of the problem of socialization stems...from the diversity of these statuses and from the uncertainty as to the roles which may be associated with them (Inkeles, 1969:616).

Some statuses that a person will occupy are definite and ascribed. Sta­ $4

tuses associated with sex, age, and skin color are prescribed. One behaves

accordingly depending on whether he is a male or female, black or white,

young or old. With ascribed statuses, there is little variation in the

accompanying role behaviors. Learning the behavior (or role) associated

with a particular status is much less complicated with ascribed statuses

than achieved statuses. Achieved statuses are those social positions that

one acquires through his own initiative. These would include such sta­

tuses as doctor, mason, professor, plumber, husband, wife, etc.

Not only are there prescriptions of how the occupant of a status should perform, but there are also actual role behaviors-the behavior dis­ played by the incumbent. It is possible that the displayed role behavior is incongruent with the role prescriptions. For example, the aforemen­ tioned mother (p. 25) whose behavior at the bedside of her baby was not what was expected of an incumbent of the status-role of mother; she was displaying behaviors that were incongruent with the prescriptions.

A limited insight into the variations of men's work and women's work in different societies shows most activities are assigned primarily to one sex or the other. However, "there is almost no activity which has not been assigned by some society to women" (Udry, 1971:26).

Some sociologists have argued that sex-role differences are not bio­ logically determined. Starting from observations of small decision-making groups, they noticed that in many of these groups there seemed to be one person who led the group "to get things done" while another member attended to the more personal aspects of interaction such as making others "feel good". The person who "got things done" became known in the literature as the instrumental leader performing the function of facilitating goal 55

achievement for the group. The other member - the expressive leader -

performed the tension-management function. Talcott Parsons and Robert

Bales indicate that the husband's occupation is very important in tying

the family to society, "...in our society we can unequivocally designate

the husband-father as the instrumental leader..." of the family (1955»

47). The wife is the expressive leader.

Not all writers agree with Parsons. According to Margaret Mead,

there are different modes of behavior which flow from essential biological

differences in males and females. Women are by nature receptive: "In­

ception is a form of behavior that fits the essential biological rhythm of her being" (1949:144). Because women experience motherhood, they are more intuitive and receptive. Males are more intrusive by nature and have universal needs for achievement. The problem of society is not to erad­ icate these biologically produced tendencies, but to expand on them. Sex roles, therefore, are socially determined but biologically outlined. The socialization process should be aimed at capitalizing upon these basic differences rather than ignoring or changing them.

Sociology, as a discipline, assumes that social interaction is as im­ portant, if not more important, than biological determinism. It assumes that given a human organism, it can be socialized in a variety of different ways according to its given social and cultural milieu. It is for this reason that sex role differentiation is more often explained from a socio- cultural perspective rather than biological determinism.

With the emphasis in the discipline being on the social learning of sex roles, many textbooks on the sociology of the family continue to dis­ cuss sex roles as if they were a dichotomy of either instrumental- expressive, traditional vs. equalitarian, etc. within the family system.

However, many of these same texts go on to note that these types are ideal

types and do not exist in reality. Nevertheless, to state, for example,

that the man in the family is instrumental and the woman expressive ob­

scures more than it illuminates. Perhaps by putting sex roles into a

dichotomy, research into this matter has been stifled. Millman (1971) con­

cludes that the typical division of sex roles according to sex serves as a

"...device which enables a social system to preserve contradictory quali­

ties or features....By dividing things up this way, the system can deny

that the contradictory needs or values exist..." (774). In the American

case, it is the women who represent the past and things that have been left

behind.

In most American families, the husband is the primary economic pro­

vider; that is, according to some writers, he is the instrumental connec­

tion between the outside system and the family subsystem. This leaves the wife with the duties and responsibilities of the family. Her primary task consists of caring for the children - an instrumental task within the fam­ ily. "With respect to emotion expressive behavior within the family, there is little evidence that this is more the domain of the wife than of the husband. Because we cover up all these complexities when we say that husbands generally play instrumental roles and wives play expressive roles

(within family), it is probably better to abandon that principle entirely

..." (Udry, 1971:312). Udry (1971) continues:

It seems reasonable to conclude that in a family with children at home, the human relationship and the emotional and instru­ mental requirements of living together are too complex for a simple division of roles along instrumental - expressive 57

lines. Rather, each spouse is required to be sometimes instru­ mental, sometimes expressive in his behavior (312).

Dunn (i960) in her study of adolescents' marriage role expectations

found that they showed strong leanings toward similarity of sex roles and

equalitarian norms. On household activities:

The majority of both sexes agreed that the wife and husband would share household tasks according to individual interests and abilities rather than according to "man's work" and "woman's work" (101).

However, it is interesting to note that when it came to specific areas of responsibility, "...more girls than boys listed the responsibility of

•cooking' and keeping the house as theirs. Outside chores, including keeping the yard, repairs, and painting...were viewed as the husband's area" (101). Dunn, in her conclusions, notes: "...findings of the study suggest that the concept of 'equality' in family member roles is not un- idemensional, but, instead, may vary considerably from one area of family interaction to another..." (1960:103).

Within marriage there are a number of pressures which lead a couple away from a polarization of role differences. Posing may be minimized be­ cause of the intimate relationship. In addition, the complexity of the relationship does not permit a polarity to continue. The result is that family interaction is not as sharply differentiated along a polarity as many people think. "Couples think that they will be more traditional in their role differentiation than they actually are" (Udry, 1971:311).

Landis, in support of the contention that husbands may participate in activities that are often assumed to be the duties and responsibilities of the wives, presented the following table. 58

Table 2

Percent of 202 middle-class and 341 lower-class fathers in Tampa, Florida,

who usually assume or share child-training functions listed (Landis, 1965:

139).

Middle-class Lower-class fathers fathers Task (percent) (percent)

1. Teach the children right from wrong and how the family expects them to behave 82 79 2. Teach the children facts, skills, and how to do things 80 75 3. Puni sh the chi1dren when they do something wrong 76 76 4. Tell the children what time to come in at night 73 70 5. See that the children have fun 68 67 6. Help the children choose what they will do when they finish school 65 58 7. See that the children have good table manners 50 47 8. See that the children go to bed on time 40 49 9. See that the children do their homework 44 40 10. Help the children with their school work 49 35 11. Care for the children when they are sick 35 38 12. See that the children get to school or work on time 32 25 13. Get the children up on time in the morning 28 20 14. See that the children eat the right foods 19 19 15. See that the children wear the right clothes 3 7 16. See that the children get washed and dressed 5 5

It would appear that particular responsibilities or duties are not exclusively assigned to either the husband-father or wife-mother in the

American family. With the increasing number of working wives and mothers and the changes that may occur because of the renewed women's liberation 59

movement, it is postulated that a status-role dichotomy does not exist in

the typical nuclear, neolocal American family. Rather a continuum of

husband-father and wife-mother behavior patterns exist, with some being

more typical of one or the other while still others are participated in or

displayed by both. The question, then, is how does one learn or how is

one socialized as to what are the expected behaviors associated with the

statuses of husband-father and wife-mother?

According to Udry (1971), marital role expectations are derived from

several sources including (1) exposure in the family of orientation, (2)

from the mass media and the culture itself, and (3) from the interaction

of the two spouses themselves (259). The child's first conceptions of

husband-wife roles are derived from his parents. In the family of orien­

tation setting "...more is 'caught' than is formally 'taught' because par­

ents remain blissfully ignorant of themselves as agents of marital social­

ization. They tend to ignore the impact of their behavior toward one an­

other as spouses on the imagery of marriage being formed by their children

..." (Aldous and Hill, 1969:888). The family setting could be viewed as

an arena of several subsystems. The spouses (husband-wife) form one

system, the brother-sister or same sex siblings form another, and the par-

ent-child still another. Socialization consists of one generation (husband-

wife) communicating directly or indirectly with another generation (the children) via the parent-child link. Aldous and Hill further indicate;

The marital subsystem values its privacy (separate sleeping areas, etc.) and may appear to operate in "closed executive session" on many matters. The sibling subsystem bases its solidarity on its differentiation from the old-fashioned ways of its antecedents and questions what can be learned from a generation so out-of-date (1969:809). 60

Yet despite these structural difficulties the family remains a primary

socialization agent for later marital and familial roles.

For any given child (ego) his stance in the process of learning mar­

ital roles is one of observer rather than participant in the marital sub­

system. To use Brim and Wheeler's (1966) terminology, his relations to the

actors is one of the "they-them" type. Ego observes his parents as ob­

jects; as far as the marital dyad is concerned he is an object, not a sub­

ject. Little research has been done from this perspective. Most has been

done at a more general level comparing scores on marital adjustment scales.

There are some very important limitations to the family of orienta­

tion setting for the learning of marital and familial roles. Initially it

must be noted that this setting provides no practical on-the-job experience

in the necessary skills of marriage. There are very few opportunities to

simulate marital role behavior. A second limitation is that this setting

is only one family; the probability exists that other family settings are

uniquely different. The two spouses coming together in marriage may have

come from very different families of orientation and, therefore, may bring

with them quite different marital role expectations for themselves as well

as their spouse.

With the emphasis on status achievement and occupational as well as

residential mobility, it is postulated that one's family of orientation

(although still extremely important in early socialization) plays a less

important role in the socialization for marital and family roles after

the family of procreation has begun. Because it is likely that the newly

created family of procreation is neolocal, the families of orientation are

not going to be readily available to serve as models of behavior for the 61

initiates. The new wife or husband is not able to turn to the respective

parents for advise or suggestions. In addition, it is quite probable that

the status of the family of procreation will differ from that of the family of orientation (DeFleur, 1971:232). Therefore, the problems of the in­

itiates may be foreign to the families of orientation. Also it is likely that the spouses themselves are not from the same neighborhood or family backgrounds as was true prior to increased mobility of the populace.

"When couples grew up in the same local community and had similar family backgrounds the role performance learnings they brought into marriage largely 'dovetailed'. "Starting out with much the same knowledge, the amount of socialization the couple needed after marriage was minimal. Role performance alternatives less often existed as their associates came from the same community" (Aldous and Hill, 1969:935). In addition, Aldous and

Hill note that no longer do marital norms enjoin a clearcut sex-based division of labor and decision-making in which the husband is responsible for matters affecting the family's relations with the broader community leaving internal affairs to his wife. "Extreme asymmetries in power be­ tween husband and wife seem to be diminishing" (Aldous and Hill, 1969:935).

Given the limitations of the family of orientation setting for learn­ ing marital and familial roles, it is beneficial that other sources of socialization be available outside the nuclear family. One of these sources is the mass media. As Christenson notes:

Whether it be via newspaper, magazines, books, motion pictures, radio, or television, modern man is being bombarded almost con­ stantly with facts, ideas, persuasions, and emotional stimula­ tions of one sort or another. Some of these are for entertain­ ment, others are for sales promotion....But whatever the medium or the purpose, the exposure of man to this bombardment is ex­ tensive, continuous, and the results frequently bewildering.... 62

Since sex, love, marriage, and parenthood are intrinsically interesting, it is understandable that a large proportion of the mass communication barrage is directed toward the family. Almost every publication one reads or program one hears or sees contains somethinq on a family related theme. (Emphasis Christenson's). At their best, these outpourings both inform and motivate the consuming public toward accepted goals in family living; at the worst, they only distort and destroy. Of course, the great bulk of what is offered lies somewhere between these two extremes....There is a tendency to treat complex, personal problems much too briefly, even flippantly, and with distorted emphases (1964:978).

There is an overlapping of fiction and reality in the television fare that

has not been given the thorough investigation it deserves, especially if one considers the ubiquity and attention now given this medium of mass com­ munication. The acquisition of information can be viewed as a part of the socialization process.

Socialization can be of two types; the first is intentional and delib­ erate, the other is unintentional, incidental or secondary. Socialization in the first sense involves specific structured programs or facilities that have as their manifest function the creation of a social being. Examples would include various institutions of formal learning, secret initiation and rituals of various organizations, college orientation weeks, fraternity or sorority pledging, military basic training, etc.

Incidental socialization involves those aspects of learning that are acquired from non-formal sources. Much social information is picked up from peers, interaction with adults, overheard conversations, facial ex­ pressions, gestures, an individual's choice of language symbols, etc.

Television serves in both of the above socialization capacities. Its technological potentials have been utilized in aP forms of formal educa­ tional settings. The effectiveness of this medium in displaying and broad­ 63

casting educational content is unequivocal. It has been demonstrated

repeatedly that people do learn from television broadcasts. However, only

a minority of all television sets are found in classrooms. Most are found

in private residential locations. Even there, it can have functions for

the viewer in terms of personal educational enrichment. Aldous and Hill

add:

The communication media...provide a variety of images of life in other families which the classes and sexes sample differently. The more highly educated, white collar classes come in contact with a greater portion of the spectrum, because they are more apt to supplement their television viewing and newspaper reading with novels and plays. The working and lower classes tend more to confine their viewing and reading to television and the popular forms of journalism that focus in the image of the con­ sumption-conscious equalitarian family (1969:901).

What, then, is the television medium portraying concerning the contemporary

institution of marriage and family?

A study that attempted to get at one aspect of televised family images was that of Foster (1964). Her assumptions were (1) that much learning from television is incidental, (2) information on adult life is one of the chief topics of incidental learning, and (3) it is possible for children to form an inaccurate and unbalanced picture of adult life and adult roles

by viewing television (353). She further contends that television presen­ tations have more impact if they "...touch on ideas or values for which the child is emotionally ready. It might be conjectured that since children are familiar with family situations, they may attribute more realism to family situation series than actually exists. Investigations...show that retention is higher when the television action portrays a familiar setting such as home or school" (353). Unfortunately, Foster did not cite these investigations. 64

Foster's research design focused on the comparison of the images of

an ideal father (as provided by 28 real fathers) as opposed to the images

from television. The former were very moral, reputable, wholesome, quite

rational, objective, and logical, as well as calm, relaxed, more sociable,

extroverted rather than solitary. In addition, the ideal father is con­

sistent, predictable, warm, and sincere.

From such television shows as "Lassie", "Danny Thomas", "Dennis the

Menace", and "Father of the Bride", it was concluded that the fathers in

these shows were "...very significantly less adequate, competent, effective,

wise, strong, decisive, consistent, and predictable than the ideal" (354).

This was determined by having the 28 fathers utilize an ideal father scale

some four weeks prior to viewing and later applied it to the previous

shows. Foster concludes that "the social anxiety caused by the unknown

effect of television warrants additional content analyses of the way in

which social roles are portrayed in family television series..." (355).

A final source of marital and familial role behaviors is the inter­ action of the spouses themselves. In some ways the interaction in the marital dyad is simplified by homogeneity in the ages of the spouses.

Usually they are of the same generation; in addition, they may share a similar group of experiences, etc.

Yet other properties of this small group may tend to complicate rather than simplify role problems. The matter of sexuality is an obvious one.

One has been raised to be masculine, the other feminine. Succinctly, this difference could serve as a basis of different appraisals of various inter­ personal situations, conflicts, etc. Secondly, as noted previously, the spouses come from different families of orientation. Each may have been 65

prepared for marriage in different ways.

If the above properties of the marital dyad (small group) are correct,

then it may be assumed that the participants in the dyad may have difficul­

ties in role behavior. Since the incumbents of the statuses of wife and

husband are novices, they will experience role ambiguities, conflicts and

frustrations. For each of the marital statuses, there are two sets of

expectations. Both the man and woman have their own definitions of what

each is expected to do as incumbents of a particular status. Also, they

both have expectations of each other's position. Problems may exist when

the husband's perceptions of his duties do not coincide with those of his

wife. The same might be true for the wife's role behaviors. Self-role

expectations vis-a-vis spouse's expectations normally do not always agree.

This is the natural result of differences in family of orientation, various

socio-economic characteristics, educational background, or other agencies

of socialization. (For more on this, see Roleder (1973) Marriage Means

Encounter.)

The focus of this research project is limited to one medium (tele­

vision) of mass communication that may provide information on marital

role expectations and behaviors. Of special concern are the behaviors or

acts portrayed by the incumbents of the marital and familial statuses-roles

as they serve as imitative models. These behavioral models may be oper­

ating at two levels. The behaviors displayed may serve as a pre-marital

socialization agent. On the other hand, they may portray behaviors that serve a source of solutions to conflicts in marital role expectations.

At present there is a void of information as to what marital and familial behaviors are being presented on television. The contribution 66

of materials to fill that gap is the primary purpose of this project. For the present, the impact of the discerned behaviors will be limited to a theoretical discussion coupled with the generation of specific hypotheses.

But, operating from the assumption that people can learn from television, future research projects can be developed to empirically test these hypotheses. 67

CHAPTER III. THE METHODOLOGY

The focus of this investigation centers on a limited area of tele­

vision content, namely marital and familial role behaviors. As noted in

the previous chapter, it is postulated that these televised behaviors can

influence behavior and, in this way, function to maintain not only the

institution of marriage and family but also society. However, the develop­

ment of measures to ascertain evidence in support of this assumption lags

behind.

A functional analysis is heuristic in providing an understanding of

certain social phenomena and for the generation of theoretical hypotheses.

Unfortunately, such hypotheses are not directly amenable to empirical

investigation. The discussion of functions assumes a definition of some

system or subsystem. The parameters of the system are defined into exist­

ence. Therefore, one's definition of a system may not coincide with that

of another. Also one gets into the matter of deciding if a particular

phenomenon is manifest, latent, or dysfunctional for the system under con­

sideration. In essence, then, a functional approach involves a personal

bias on the part of the researcher, a bias which negates objective inr

vestigation.

Secondly, a functional discussion is at a high level of abstraction.

It is broad in scope, encompassing many interrelated items. For example, the American society (system) is quite broad and involves many aspects.

The abstractness of a functional approach is a major problem in empirically investigating "functions".

By utilizing the cultural norms theory (which assumes media can in­ 68

fluence behavior) in concert with the functional approach, one can get

some empirical indicators which reflect theoretically the functions of

mass media. Changes in behaviors, attitudes, expectations, or norms are

testable. Findings regarding these items can be theoretically important

at both the specific level of cultural norms as well as at the more ab­

stract level of functions.

Methodology problems also exist. No doubt many social scientists

feel that it is unfortunate that television is so ubiquitous in our society.

Their research findings would be so much more conclusive if it were pos­

sible to get completely uncontaminated groups upon which a laboratory ex­

periment could be conducted. Such groups are not available especially in

the Western world.

The matter of an "unspoiled sample" has similar implications for other major research methods in mass communication (e.g. the field cor­

relational study). In trying to demonstrate that two (or more) variables

vary together, it is extremely difficult to account for all- the extraneous

variables that may be influencing the relationship under investigation.

For example, a demonstration of a relationship between exposure to tele­ vised violence and violent behaviors would have to control for the in­ fluence of additional variables such as family setting, perception of pro­ grams being real or fictional, personality factors, socio-economic factors, ad infinitum.

Assuming that the above difficulties can be overcome and a relation­ ship between exposure and behavior exists, this relationship does not in and of itself mean a causal relationship. Just because two things vary together, it does not follow that one causes the other. For example, a 69

relationship exists between exposure to violent cartoons and violent be­

havior. Exposure does not necessarily cause violent behavior; perhaps

viewers who are basically violent choose to watch violent programs. This

explanation also explains the relationship.

Exposure to one program may not be enough to acquire behaviors. A

research project that attempts to measure the impact of that exposure may

not turn up anything conclusive. Much of television content is repetitive.

Therefore, an investigation regarding effects may need to be done over a

longer period of time than just one exposure. The impact of one program,

one evening's viewing, etc., may not be measurable but the cumulative

effects might be. The reverse may also be found. One may acquire be­

haviors from exposure, but not accept it (or just forget it) as a model for future interaction patterns.

The study of long range effects of television exposure is rare. This is especially true with marital and family content on television. In pre­

lude to any such investigation, the characteristics of this television content must first be outlined. In mass communication jargon, the con­ tent is referred to as the "message".

The "message" is only one aspect of a very complicated communication process. Figure 5 displays the location of the "message" in a simplified communication model.

Channel

Figure 5

A model of the communication process

An example of how the various items relate might be a sender (father) may 70

send the message ("no date with John tonight") via of the channel (air

waves) to the receiver (daughter).

To investigate the "message" of the mass media, the method of content

analysis will be utilized. Content analysis is a "...tool for observing

and analyzing the overt communication behavior of selected communicators"

(Budd et al. 1967:17) as well as "...a data collection technique in the

same sense that personal interviews, self-administered questionnaires and

observational protocols are data collection techniques" (Mitchell, 1967;

230). Berelson (1954:488) writes that "...systematic content analysis

attempts to refine more casual descriptions of the content, so as to show

objectively the nature and relative strength of the stimuli applied to the

reader or listener." "Content analysis is always performed on the mes­

sage" (Holsti, 1969:24). "Furthermore, it is used frequently to describe

the attributes of messages without reference to either the intentions

(encoding process) of the sender or of the effect of the message upon

those to whom it is directed (decoding process)" (Holsti, 1969:27). Fig­

ure 6, page 71» depicts the application of content analysis to the communi­

cation process.

The major purpose of this analysis of the messages transmitted by

television is twofold: (1) to describe and compare the status-role be­

haviors (husband-father, wife-mother) of the characters portraying marriage

and family interaction and, (2) to generate hypotheses as to the social­

izing effects that such portrayals may have on the television viewer.

In other words, what behaviors are being broadcast that can influence one's behavior within the institution of marriage and family. Theoreti­ cally, television can influence behavior by presenting patterns (1) sup- "Content analysis is any technique... for making i nferences... by objectively and systematical ly identifying specified characteristics of messages:

Recipient Encodi ng S Channel \ Message S Decodi ng Process / / Process y

A A o f Why? He w? Wh t? Witi Tb Hovi? what wh xn? eff ect?

Figure 6

Content analysis and the communication process (Holsti, 1969:25) 72

portive of the existing behaviors (2) alter the present patterns, or (3)

present new patterns. At this point in time, television's messages on

this topic have not been explored; sociologists do not know what behaviors are televised that the viewer may acquire and/or adopt. At the abstract

level, the function of such content needs also to be discussed.

According to Connolly (1972) there are eight major formats that tele­ vision programs may have. Each format has specific variations. These are called "program types". For example, contained with the dramatic format are ten types of dramas. (For a complete listing see Appendix A). There were five program types (discerned from a period of saturation viewing) that contained contemporary marital and familial behaviors; the light situation comedy, the serial, the studio quiz, the movie (also a format) and the prestige drama. Programs from each of these five types were in­ cluded in the week's sample of television programs. Figure 7 displays the overall purposes of this investigation.

Messages Messages produced by produced by televi sion: television: Program Type I Program Type II-V Status Role Content Behavi or Variable: Portrayal s

Comparison of behaviors presented

Generation of Hypotheses as to the Possible Socializing Effects

Figure 7

Purposes of investigation 73

The Instrument; The primary variables are the status-role behaviors

of husband-father, wife-mother as previously outlined. The method by which

this will be operational"zed involves a multi-stage procedure. Since this

matter of marital role behavior is a basic part of any class or text on

the Sociology of the Family (See Udry, 1971 Chapters 4 and 13; Bell, 1971»

Chapters 12 and 17; Turner, 1970, Chapter 12), the writer enlisted the

assistance of such a class in the construction of a set of criteria by

which this concept of marital role behavior can be investigated. From

two heterogeneous classes (age, sex, college class, academic major) in the

sociology of the family in the spring of 1972 were collected lists of

various items that were considered by the students to be typical activities

of the husband-father and wife-mother incumbents in their own families of

orientation.

Those items most frequently mentioned were then utilized as the pri­ mary acts or behaviors for the construction of the instrument. (It was necessary because of the open-ended nature of the husband-father, wife- mother role behavior questions to reduce them into a more parsimonious

list by putting together similar behavior into more general categories.)

In addition, other behaviors displayed by the television actors in the respective status-role positions were also recorded as these were dis­ played. (The recording instrument is contained in Appendix C for further reference.) The initial instrument was utilized in a pilot-test in which two coders viewed video-taped subject-matter programs. In ad­ dition to this writer, the other coder was briefed and had read the theo­ retical aspects of the research design as well as being familiar with the 74

primary categories of analysis - the scenes and marriage and family acts.

This pilot test of the instrument displayed the ambiguities of some be­

havior headings and were accordingly refined. The inter-coder reliability

was determined by the percentage of agreement between the paired coders.

From the refined instrument, developed from repeated viewings of taped subject-matter programs, the reliability between the coders on the number of scenes portrayed was .80 (80%); on the number of acts portrayed .83

(83%); and overall .82 (82%). It would appear that the instrument overall has a high degree of reliability reflecting the properties of the material being studied.

Categories; The first category is "Prevalence". Prevalence refers to that portion of television programs that present contemporary marital and familial settings involving a conjugal family structure. This category does not include the status-roles of grandparents, in-laws, and other pos­ sible members of the extended family. However, it must be noted that the incumbents of the husband-father, wife-mother statuses may interact and display behaviors relevant to extended family members; these are not in­ cluded in the analysis of the role behaviors. Also included in the an­ alysis were those family units presented as "broken" conjugal units, such as those resulting from the death of a spouse, divorce, or separation.

The enumeration of the prevalence of the subject-matter indicates the proportion of this material in all the televised programs broadcast during the week of study. Prevalence, then, is a percentage of the daily pro­ grams by networks that contain contemporary marital and familial scenes.

Furthermore, it gives an indication of the likelihood of encountering the subject-matter in the course of non-selective daily viewing. 75

The subject-matter is narrowed further by limiting the investigation

to a specific unit within this category. "A 'unit' is a short section or

segment of a broadcast program in which some type of material is presented

..." (Connolly, 1972).

For the purposes of this investigation, the presented material which

is of primary concern is verbal and/or physical interaction between husband- father and wife-mother and/or between one or both of these respective in­ cumbents and their children. Subsequently, this material of concern will be referred to as the "recording unit".

Within the recording unit the investigation focuses on "scenes". A scene is that segment of the program broadcast in which the interaction between the incumbent (of the above status-roles) and another person re­ mains constant. In other words, a scene changes with the introduction of a new character into the interaction. For example, one scene could be the husband and wife discussing financial problems. Their son enters the room; another scene would commence when either the husband or wife begins to interact verbally or physically with him. The mother asks about his where­ abouts all evening; the son replies. This would be a second scene. Now the father also begins to talk with their son; this would be a third scene.

For the purpose of this investigation there were six possible scenes with­ in the recording unit. In terms of verbal or physical interaction from the point of initiation, these scenes were: husband to wife, father to son, father to daughter or wife to husband, mother to son, and mother to daughter.

Other ways in which a scene could be defined would be a change from a

"talk" scene to one of violence. It could also be defined as a shift in 76

mood, from one of extreme seriousness, or a definite shift in subject-

matter. It could also be a change from a monologue to a dialogue

(Connolly, 1972).

For each scene within the recording unit, the frequency of marital

and familial acts was recorded. An "act" is that behavior displayed by

the incumbent of the status-role position of either husband-father or

wife-mother. For any given scene within the recording unit, there could

be a variety of acts. However, only those acts that took place in the

interaction between husband and wife and/or with their children were enu­

merated. An example might aid clarity. A husband-father interacting with

his son (a scene within the recording unit) might be assisting him with

his pajamas, reading him a bed-time story, and kissing him good-night

(three acts). These would be recorded as three acts under the scene

"father-son" on the recording instrument. Subsequent scenes might portray the same incumbent of the father-husband status-role interacting with the mailman. This interaction would be recorded as a non-marital or non- familial scene; the acts portrayed would not be recorded. All interaction was recorded as taking place in either a marital and familial scene or a non-marital and non-familial scene. However, only in the former was the frequency of specific acts enumerated.

An overall indicator of the frequency of marital and familial acts within the subject-matter category is computed via the "rate" of which there are three; the rate per program, the rate per minute, and the rate per recording unit. Each rate expresses the frequency of marital and fa­ milial acts divided by the total number of televised scenes, total number of exclusive minutes, and total number of marital and familial scenes re­ 77

spectively. (Exclusive minutes contain no commercials or irrelevant

"leads" or "tails").

The "subject-matter score" refers to the percentage of the total

scenes presented in the subject-matter program that were depicting marital

and familial scenes. This score, then, is the total number of scenes di­

vided by the total number of marital and familial scenes.

Finally, "the program score" results from the summation of the "rates" and the "subject-matter score". This score reflects the concentration of marital and familial matter by program as well as over time. Furthermore, this score permits direct comparisons between various selected measures such as program type or networks. Figure 8, page 78, outlines the various categories and units of enumeration. Sublect-Hatter Unit (Recording) Scene Act

Contemporary marital and Interaction between Each segment of the The actual status- familial settings as husband-father and "unit" in which the role behaviors broadcast by television. wife-mother, and/or interaction between exhibi ted. these Incumbents characters remains interacting with constant. chi1dren.

Prevalence - Percentage of plays or programs that depict the subject-matter category.

Subiect-Hatter Score - expresses the percentage of each subject-matter program that depicts marital and familial scenes.

Rates; Rate per program - expresses the frequency of marital and familial acts divided by the total number of scenes.

Rate per minute - expresses the frequency of marital and familial acts divided by the total number of exclusive minutes. •

Rate per recording unit - expresses the frequency of marital and familial acts divided by the total number of marital and familial scenes

Program Score - expresses the overall score of the program(s) by selected measures as computed from the summation of the subject-matter score, the rate per program, the rate per minute, and the rate per recording unit.

Figure 8

Categories of analysis 79

CHAPTER IV. THE SAMPLE

An analysis of the total television universe is overwhelming and fi­

nancially impossible; therefore, a sample of a week's television fare was

utilized. Prior to the analysis and subsequent investigation of the sample

drawn, the writer spent three weeks determining the loci of the subject-

matter category. This was accomplished by saturation viewing of daily pro­

graming to discern when (in terms of broadcast hours) and where (in terms

of program types) the subject-matter category was being broadcast.

The three weeks of saturation viewing indicated that the five pre­

viously mentioned types of programs were the most consistent in repeatedly

presenting contemporary marital and familial scenes. Other program types

(e.g. interview programs or stunt) occasionally had a married couple on;

however, these program types were not consistent over time. One week

they would be portrayed, the next week they were not. Therefore, it was

decided that to be able to plan what programs to investigate, the analysis

would have to be limited to these five types which were consistently broad­

casting the subject-matter. (Contained within each type were specific

television programs.) Such a procedure was further necessitated by limited

technical facilities. Another possible sampling procedure would be

Gerbner's (1971) in which he analyzed only the networks' dramatic programs

broadcast during prime evening time (weekdays and Saturday from 7:30-11 p.m. and Sunday evening 7 to 11 p.m.). This procedure was not utilized because

this would have eliminated certain program types that also displayed the subject-matter materials. 80

After the period of saturation viewing determined the broadcast hours

as well as program types that contained the subject-matter, a sample of

one week's television fare was drawn. The calendar position of the sample

drawn was from Saturday, January 27th through Friday, February 2, 1973.

This calendar position, being in the middle of the television broadcast

season, was late enough so as not to include those programs that were

dropped from the new scheduling which began in the fall of 1972 and early

enough as to not include re-runs of previous programs. (Although the in­ clusion of re-runs would not have been detrimental to the study.)

To the extent that it was technically possible (having only one

borrowed video-tape recorder and six one-hour video-tapes), each of the specific television programs containing the subject-matter category, as indicated by the results of the saturation viewing, was video-taped for analysis. The taping began at 11:30 a.m. and went as late as 1:00 a.m., this being determined by the television schedule's broadcast of subject- matter programs. In those instances where the program hours conflicted, the program to be taped was randomly selected by assigning a number to each and drawing one from a container. However, if it was apparent that a program would be completely excluded from the analysis because of the random selection process, at least one broadcast was intentionally re­ corded and analyzed.

The loci of the television programs containing the subject-matter category were scattered considerably over the broadcast week. As indicated by Table 1 (in Appendix A), Monday had the greatest prevalence of the subject-matter category with 23% (13 hours) of the 55 and 3A hours of 81

broadcasting by the three networks containing marital and familial scenes.

Ranking the remainder of the sample days, 17% of Wednesday's and Friday's

programs displayed the subject-matter, 15% of Tuesday's and Thursday's

programs, 6% of Sunday's programs and 9% of Saturday's programs contained

the subject-matter.

The stations selected represented the three major national television

networks; CBS, Spartanburg, S. C.; NBC, Charlotte, N. C.; and ABC, Ashe-

ville, N. C. The network transmissions relayed by these stations were

recorded from cable television. This was necessary for two reasons: to

avoid the difficulties of video-taping poor non-cable reception typical

of rural South Carolina, and to get representative stations from the major

networks. All three stations' programs may be viewed without a cable

connection, but the quality of reception varies greatly.

Stations representing the national networks were selected for two major reasons. One reason was no local stations carried the subject- matter with any consistency as determined during the period of saturation viewing. Secondly, the national network programs receive much wider exposure than would a locally produced program; therefore, the project findings would be more applicable to any community within broadcast range of a major network television station. Of the three networks, CBS had the longest broadcast week of 132 hours of which 28 hours or 21% contained the subject-matter category. CBS was followed by NBC having 130 hours of broadcast hours of which 14^ hours or 11% contained the subject-matter category and ABC with 12^ hours of which 10 hours or 8% contained the subject-matter category. 82

The total number of broadcast hours for the three networks for the

week of investigation was 386k; hours. Fourteen percent (52%) of these

hours contained the subject-matter category. Converting these hours to

days indicates that these three networks broadcast more than two solid

days of programs that contain contemporary marital and familial settings.

Putting it another way, any given viewer randomly selecting his programs

would stand a good chance of viewing a subject-matter program. However,

as previously noted, most viewers are selective in their viewing. This

selectivity of programs which usually includes the serials, light comedy

situation, and prestige dramas increases the likelihood of the viewer

watching programs that contain contemporary marital and familial scenes.

The prevalence of the subject-matter becomes important in that the viewer's

possibility of viewing marital and familial scenes increases because of

his selective patterns of viewing.

Regarding the types of programs included in the sample. Table 2 in

the Appendix indicates the types by network. All programs are discussed

and rates computed on the basis of "exclusive" minutes or hours. "Exclu­

sive" hours are broadcast hours that include no commercials, no irrelevant

"leads" or "tails", or credits. "Leads" are brief introductory scenes,

"tails" are brief concluding scenes which open or close respectively

many television programs. "Credits" are the listings of producers, writers,

etc., which were not analyzed. Only those "leads" or "tails" specifically

related to each broadcast were included in the analyses. Relevant "leads"

and "tails" were more often typical of the serials than any of the others.

(It might be parenthetically noted that about ten minutes of each one-half 83

hour of broadcasting is devoted to commercials or station-breaks regardless

of the program type.) By networks, CBS broadcast more exclusive hours of

the subject-matter (with the exception of studio quiz and prestige drama)

than did either of the two other networks. The number of hours of serials

broadcast by CBS was more than the combined total of NBC and ABC. The

networks were quite similar in the broadcast hours of movies and light

situation comedies. Studio quiz and prestige drama programs in this sam­

ple were restricted to ABC. CBS broadcast 689 minutes during the sampling

week; NBC and ABC had 386 and 321 minutes respectively. The total, then,

for the sample week was 1396 minutes, or 23 hours and 16 minutes of ex­

clusive subject-matter.

Examples of the serials would include NBC's "Days of our Lives" or

CBS's "Secret Storm". Light situation comedies include ABC's "Bewitched",

CBS's "All in the Family", and NBC's "Sanford and Son". "Owen Marshall" is an example of "Prestige Drama" and the "Newlywed Game" typifies the studio quiz. Tables 3-6 in the Appendix give the programs included in the sample, their types, the networks for each, and the daily position of each program for the week of analysis.

Appendix B provides a comparison of the overall and specific indica­ tors by types, as well as the comparisons between networks' programs by specific indicators. Contained in this appendix are the various rates per program, subject-matter scores, etc.

A make-believe viewer can be of some assistance in summarizing the specific indicators and comparisons made. This viewer has several pur­ poses in mind for viewing television. First the viewer would like to find 84

and follow for a period of time portrayals of contemporary marital and

familial life on television. He would have his best chance by turning to a

CBS or NBC station. In terms of selecting the program that had the highest

proportion of its total scenes portraying the subject-matter, this viewer

should select NBC's "The Doctors". (Noticeably absent in "The Doctors"

sampled were the often typical scenes of extra-marital affairs, and

jealousies observed in the weeks of saturation viewing.) Overall, NBC

broadcasts had a higher proportion of their scenes being marital and

family scenes.

Another purpose that this viewer has is to view the most acts possible

in a minute that are exemplary of contemporary marital and familial inter­

action. The program that displayed the most marital and familial acts

per exclusive minute was CBS's "Bridget Loves Bernie", a light situation comedy. However, on a network basis, NBC dominated. The light situation comedies presented more per exclusive minute than the serials.

A final purpose of the viewer is to focus his attention on the inter­ action taking place in a scene (constant interaction between two people) involving a wife-mother or husband-father with spouse or children. A specific program that presented the highest number of marital and familial acts per constant scene of conjugal interaction was CBS's "Bob Newhart" show. However, on a network basis, NBC presented more marital and familial acts per scene than the other networks. In terms of program types, the serials, overall, presented more acts than the other program types.

The most important item to discuss in terms of utilizing these com­ parisons is the purpose of the viewing, what type of program does one 85

want to view, and what networks are available for viewing. From there, one can decide what program type, what specific program, and on what net­ work he can locate a contemporary depiction of marital and familial inter­ action.

Chapter Five presents a discussion of what television is presenting in terms of the subject-matter. 86

CHAPTER V. THE FINDINGS; MARITAL AND FAMILIAL PORTRAYALS ON TELEVISION

The following discusses the sociological and social psychological

implications of television portrayals of marital and familial life. These

presentations are important for the individual viewer, as he interacts

with his spouse as well as his children. What he sees on television can

be learned and may be adopted as models for personal behaviors. In

essence, the viewer's behavior may be influenced by television exposure.

In addition, since television reaches so many viewers with the same re­

petitive content, these portrayals may have consequences for society at

large. Here, again, the cultural norms and functional theories are

allied to investigate the importance of this television fare.

Much of the television fare contains content pertinent to contemporary

marital and familial interaction. This writer's data indicate that over

forty-eight non-exclusive hours of such content is broadcast by the three

major networks weekly. Not included are duplicate network stations or

the Public Broadcasting System which may also have similar content. This

content appears to be meaningful when one considers that, as LoSciuto

(1971) indicated, many people deliberately watch many programs that display

this content. More importantly, many people learned something from the

programs including solutions to personal problems. For these viewers,

many of the portrayals show life as it really is, the activities televised

do happen in real life.

Regardless of whether or not the viewer utilizes the material pres­ ently or at some future time, nevertheless, the exposure may still affect

his behavior at some future time. The influencing potential of television 87

may not be immediately realized. In terms of future use, television may

serve as an anticipatory socialization agent representing a type of re­

hearsal for actual performance in some groups once entree has been accom­

plished. In the same manner that television viewers learn the role be­

haviors of "cops and robbers", so, too, they learn and may adopt tele­

vised prescriptions and proscriptions associated with the status-roles

of husband-father and wife-mother.

The Implications of Televised Role Behaviors for Society

Although the basic unit of analysis for this project was marital and

familial role behaviors (with enumeration of "acts"), these behaviors

have additional implications for the viewer. These behaviors took place

not in isolation, but as an integral part of a larger whole. Encompassing

the specific role behaviors was the "theme" of the program. The theme

of the program refers to the topic(s) discussed or portrayed. A one or

two sentence summary of a program for a television listing approaches the

meaning of "theme". Marital and familial themes were deduced from the

role behaviors displayed. The opposite of emitted themes would be omitted

themes. Some of these, as well as those broadcast, are indicated.

Television's marital and familial themes as well as role behaviors

are important for society because they affect the institution of marriage

and family. An "institution" reflects the society's preferred ways of

handling recurring social needs. For example, it is preferred and legally

required that a marriage be composed of two non-related adults of the opposite sex; furthermore, it is expected that this union be life-long. 88

Many items of the social structure - norms, mores, laws, role expectations,

values, - all inter-relate in support of the institutionalized forms. Tele­

vision's portrayals of contemporary marital and familial life have an impact

at the institutional or societal level as well as for the conjugal unit.

First a look at these implications at the societal level.

Certain topics or themes may be deliberately not broadcast, not dis­

cussed, or presented by the mass media. Absent from the programs analyzed

were the possibilities of a polyandrous, polygynous, or group marriage.

Omitted totally were scenes depicting pre-marital sexual relations, non-

marrieds living together, family communes, and incest. Television's

omission of these topics is supporting institutional expectations . Non-

neolocal residential patterns were also few in number. Two light situation

comedies ("All in the Family" and "Paul Lynde") and one movie ("The Thrill

of it All") did display a married daughter living at home with her husband.

However, in all these instances it was implied that these matrilocal res­

idential patterns were not to be of a long duration; the newly married

couples were living with relatives until one or both could finish college.

In one serial ("Another World") a daughter was living with her husband in

her widowed mother's home because the husband had just been released from

prison. None of these four examples indicated that residing with relatives

was preferred over a neolocal residence.

The majority of the marital units were conjugal. Of the sixty-three

marital units recorded, 71% were conjugal. There were fourteen recorded

instances of broken conjugal units. It was not always possible to tell the cause of the broken unit, but of these fourteen, five were due to divorce, 89

two deaths, one separation, and the remaining six unknown. In some in­

stances it was not possible to determine the definite nature of the marital

relationship for a variety of reasons. For example, some programs in the

sample broadcast only interaction between a parent and child with refer­

ences to the other absent parent. This was not recorded on the instrument.

Therefore, it is hot possible to state the nature of these marital unions.

However, it is assumed that those recorded are representative of all those

presented had the programs been analyzed longitudinally to determine the

nature of all marital and familial units.

Those programs portraying broken conjugal units appeared to have more

difficulties than non-broken units. There were child visitation problems,

child discipline problems, role model problems, absence of another adult with whom to discuss parental concerns, adolescent sex education inquiries, arguments between the separated parents when they happened to meet, etc.

These were some of the noted problem areas displayed in the broken family units. Although the exact frequency of each problem was not recorded be­ cause of its being tangential to the primary concern with conjugal role behaviors, it is the writer's impression that such problems were more fre­ quent with the broken rather than non-broken Unit.

The presentation of difficulties within broken units has two specific implications for society. It serves as a symbolic example of what may occur should the marital unit be broken or terminated; this emphasizes the social desirability of maintaining the conjugal unit. On the other hand, the portrayal of these difficulties assists those having such difficulties by providing answers or solutions. It is this writer's opinion, however. 90

that the solutions presented are often unrealistic because the problem

may be treated in a very light-hearted and superficial manner. For example,

"The Partridge Family" portrayed scenes in which the oldest boy (a high

school student) falls in "love" with a woman four years his elder. Al­

though to the youth involved this was a very serious problem, it was

treated very flippantly.

The general themes of the programs depicting intact conjugal units

were not oriented toward intense intra-fami1ial problems. It would appear

that the problems portrayed in these marital units were not as severe as

those portrayed in the broken conjugal units. Rather these units were

depicted to be working harmoniously with the majority of acts initiated

by the mother and father incumbents toward their children generally being

supportive of the societal idea that children and child rearing are fun and exciting (LeMasters (1970) calls this a "myth"). For example, the six children of the "Brady Bunch" auditioned and appeared on a television talent show to earn money for their parents' anniversary present. Although the parents were surprised at seeing them on television, not one act by either parent displayed shock at their leaving home without permission, or taking personal risks in getting to the studio across town. These children would appear to range in age from 7 to 16. They were not even reprimanded for leaving the home area without notifying anyone. Such themes reflected little severe or persistent parent-children problems or conflicts.

The general perception of this writer is that the broadcast themes define for the viewer the marital and familial state as basically conflict free especially as they portray acts initiated by the parents toward the 91

children. Although there were several instances of parental behavior (e.g.

spanking) that literally fit some of the broad definitions of violence,

there was not one instance of the severe violence or abuse against children

as discussed by Goode (1971) or Gil (1971) nor against one's spouse. The

conjugal unit was basically harmonious and free of any severe conflicts.

There would be little support for the contention that the marital and

familial unit is a conflict filled group and that harmony in marriage

results from conflict management. According to television fare, on-going

severe conflict is rare and most certainly abnormal in the American family.

Regardless of one's socio-economic status, sex, religion, ethnic or

racial background, television's depictions of the contemporary American

family unit emphasize the theme of harmony as a conjugal, primarily neo-

local unit. At the societal level television functions to maintain the

institution of marriage and family as a preferred state. The content le­ gitimizes the present set of prescriptions and proscriptions regarding this institution. People who violate or deviate (divorced, separated couples included) are presented as having more frequent and more serious marital and familial problems. This enphasis on harmony is functional for the

American society in that it displays to the viewer the desirability of this type of marital union. The repetition of this theme is, in itself, indicative of a cultural theme. In this sense television is an agent of cultural transmission emphasizing an important cultural expectation; tele­ vision influences behavior in a way consistent with cultural concensus.

Noting that any given viewer brings into his perception of a tele­ vision exposure a unique social history, the harmony emphasis may not be 92

what he has personally experienced in marriage. Perhaps his marriage is

full of problems and inter-personal conflicts. To him this theme is rather

farcical. Nevertheless, keeping in mind that a viewer may acquire and

accept televised acts as guidelines for his own behavior (even though he

is ostensibly being entertained), one can learn solutions for his own

marital and familial problems. The viewer who has had nothing but conflict

in his marriage may identify with a troubled incumbent in a marital status role taking and perhaps being helped by this television information.

Marital scenes and acts relevant to the viewer's situation could be useful

providing him with solutions to his problems.

In both of the above instances, the same general theme of harmony could be functional for society in that is emphasizes the preference for the institution of marriage and family while at the same time giving im­ petus toward the reduction of marital conflict hoping to recreate a harmo­ nious relationship. Television's themes display preference for and the maintenance of the institution of marriage and family. In both of the above examples, the same themes, although functional to some while appear­ ing dysfunctional to others, preserve and maintain the institution. In one the institution is preserved by displaying it as a harmonious group; in the other, suggestions or solutions may be portrayed as to how to reduce marital conflict. Television's portrayals of contemporary marital and familial life function to maintain the on-going system. These portrayals assist in maintaining the institution of marriage and family in accordance with social expectations.

Television's ostensive purpose is entertainment. But as noted earlier, 93

it is assumed that television can influence a viewer's behavior as well

as have functions for society in general. Both the viewer can acquire

while being entertained. The discussion now switches to the cultural

norms' postulates of our dual theoretical perspective. However, the reader

is cautioned to keep the functional aspect in mind as well. Two postulates

of the cultural norms theory are important in amplifying the ways in which

a viewer may be better equipped to operate in his society. These postu­

lates are that mass media may reinforce existing cultural patterns and/or

introduce new ones in addition to current cultural and social practices or

expectations. A third postulate that mass media may change present cul­

tural and social expectations, substituting new ideas in place of the old,

will be discussed later. It should be reiterated that these postulates

are operative in mass media's omission as well as emission of various con­

tent. One must consider not only what television deliberately broadcasts

but also what it fails to broadcast.

Television content, at least in the area of displayed marital and familial interaction, supports and reinforces the existing patterns. The

"correctness", the "appropriateness" of the institution was not questioned.

There were no radical departures from the contemporary residential patterns in the sample. Almost all the couples were neolocal. Even broken conjugal units had residences separated from relatives. There were no major varia­ tions in child rearing practices; all of the children were being socialized, at least in the early years, by parents or, in some cases, extended family members who would babysit or take care of the children for brief periods of time. There were no cases typifying family communes or Israeli-type 94

kibbutzim in which specialized personnel are in charge of early social-

i zation.

In the majority of the conjugal units portrayed, the husband was the

primary breadwinner. Although there were instances of the wife working,

her financial contributions were secondary to those of the husband. Only

in one movie "The Thrill of it All" did the scenes and acts portray marital

disharmony and familial difficulties associated with the wife working.

Here, too, were portrayed the difficulties that a woman who is making more

money than her husband might face. The husband, as would be expected in

terms of cultural expectations, was upset and demanded the wife stay home;

she eventually did. The wife's not having enough time for the husband and children was, at least, in part, solved by a live-in maid. The cultural norms theory would theorize that the viewer could learn from such content the woman's place is in the home and that the wife working creates internal problems and tensions. Such information would define for the viewer the social reality which includes a division of labor with the wife at home and the husband's occupation being outside the home. (Acquisition and adoption of this expectation by viewers could be functional for the on­ going society.)

At the same time that the television program is emitting the above themes, it is omitting others. For example, no content at all was pre­ sented dealing with the unique problem of the live-in-maid vis-a-vis her marital and familial responsibilities, assuming she had some. No problems or solutions were presented regarding her status-role. What if she had children, perhaps some in need of day care centers? For many viewers. 95

such problems are daily encounters. Yet television fare does not deal with

these problems. Reasons for such omissions might be that such problems are

lower-class problems and are not known or cared about by middle-class tele­

vision producers; mothers should not work but stay home and take care of

the children.

By omitting certain content themes, the television programs sampled

lend support to the status quo. There was an obvious omission of husband- wife role reversals. No scenes depicted the wife leaving for the office and the husband staying home to care for the children, wash clothes, or do

the ironing. There were very few emissions of women in occupations other than those typically thought to be female, e.g. no women telephone line­ men or truck drivers. If a female viewer, interested in being occupation- ally equal to men, were looking for supportive content in television, she would be frustrated with its absence, or frustrated with television's traditional statuses and role behaviors for women.

The cultural norms theory's postulate that television content rein­ forces the existing patterns holds true, at least for this sample. The traditional cultural themes of harmony within the home, the absence of conflict, neolocal residence patterns, the male as the primary breadwinner, and the undesirability of broken conjugal units were supported by the marital and familial themes in the sample programs. By the repetition and emphasis of these themes, television serves a socialization function

"teaching" the viewer cultural expectations regarding the institution of marriage and family.

The second postulate of the cultural norms theory is that television 96

content creates new convictions about certain items. The effect of a given

television exposure will be dependent upon the social psychological predis­

position of the viewer. For example, if a viewer's cognitive structure in­

cludes the "fact that the institution of marriage and family in our society

is falling apart, then he can find support for this in the television fare.

To this viewer divorce and remarriages, non-marital pregnancies, extra­

marital sexual affairs (implied but not actually portrayed) and separations are all indicative of institutional collapse. For viewers with such cog­

nitions, they may find support for these feelings in the television fare.

All of these were topics in the scenes analyzed. These portrayals, then, could define the situation regarding the contemporary status of the in­ stitution of marriage and family as being in jeopardy. Therefore, such viewers may write letters or campaign against liberalized divorce laws, abortion laws, the Equal Rights Amendment, etc., because they now are convinced that something must be done. They may think that too many de­ viant practices are going on and that the traditional sanctity and dura­ bility of the institution must be regained and maintained.

Viewers with an interest in equality between the sexes in the area of jobs, employment, credit, etc., but who were not aware of sex discrimina­ tion, would find reasons for alarm from some of the serials. There were several portrayals of women being denied opportunities and rights normally granted men. For example, a female attorney was not being given cases of equal importance as her male counterparts in the law firm. Another serial related the denial of a female's application for a mortgage even though she met the usual criteria. For some viewers such content creates the 97

impression or conviction that equality between the sexes does not yet

exist. For other viewers, the same content is supportive of already

formulated cognitions.

Regarding discrimination because of race, there were so few non-white

incumbents in the subject-matter programs that generalizations of any kind

are impossible. Two that can be safely made are that there were no mis-

cegenated couples and there were no displayed acts of discrimination in

the few scenes containing non-white incumbents in the marital statuses.

Whether or not television and/or other mass media can take credit for

the decrease in the birth rate of American families is highly debatable.

However, with the exception of two light situation comedies (The Brady

Bunch and The Partridge Family), all of the families contained fewer than

three children. Many of them only had one. Since the "Brady Bunch" is a family created by remarriage of individuals with three children each, and no portrayed pregnancies since the marriage, it, too, is supportive of the feeling that the United States must keep its birth rate low to avoid over population. The small family plus the demographic concerns displayed by many Americans may be an example of the changing of social norms concerning family size. If so, this is consistent with the potential of television to change existing patterns as explained by the cultural norms theory.

If the statistics are valid, then most people who divorce remarry at some future time. With the liberalization of grounds for divorce in many states, less control or stigma on divorce by institutionalized religion, women's liberation, divorcing for the children's sake rather than staying together, and being concerned about personal happiness, many of the subject- 98

matter programs had both divorces and remarriages as part of their content.

Not only were both topics of discussion by the actors, but some of the

broken conjugal units were created by a divorce. Complete conjugal units

were also created by remarriages. Probably the most noted example of a

remarriage would be "The Brady Bunch". If one can assume that divorce is

a part of the whole cultural milieu concerning marriage and family, tele­

vision portrayals could create the conviction that divorce need not be all

that bad. The remarriages on television are portrayed as being very happy

and successful. Granted that television portrays some of the problems

associated with divorce, it also emphasizes that its traumas need not be

totally disastrous. In this way, television, by creating the impression

that remarriages are socially approved and desirable, may influence future

behavior by laying the groundwork of attitudes and possible behavior pat­

terns should one find himself in a divorced situation wondering about the

desirability of remarrying. This is especially important with the in­

creasing frequency of divorce in the United States. These portrayals can

ease one's transitions into a second family of procreation. Note how

these portrayals are supportive of the general value system that encourages one to be married in our society, even those people who have terminated a

previous marriage. Some critics would argue that television's portrayals of harmonious remarriages are precipitating more divorces and separations in the United States. This argument, like that of violence, assumes that television is redefining the institution of marriage and family in such a way as to make divorce rather than working out marital problems the pre­ ferable route out of a non-happy situation. 99

One program each in the prestige drama and serials dealt with a topic

that might be considered by some viewers to be controversial. Artificial

insemination was the central theme of two programs. On both broadcasts

wives were portrayed as having been artifically inseminated without their

husband's consent or approval. Both wives were experiencing severe mental

anguish for completely different reasons. In the serial, the wife did not

know whether to tell her husband about the artificial insemination except

when she thought of his possible concerns when the child did not have any

of his features, facial characteristics, etc. The wife on the other pro­

gram had the cooperation of her husband, so she said. He denied this.

Eventually it was cleared up, but legally the husband had not cooperated

although his verbal commitment was apparent. Not only did these broad­

casts function to display the marital and legal problems for the couple

involved, but also it showed the problems for the physician as well. It

"told" the physician who might be viewing that he had better know legally what he is doing before getting involved with such cases. Getting back to the program's message to husbands and especially wives, it was that to

use artificial insemination is dangerous to the continuity of the harmo­ nious marital union and that those women who go ahead alone are susceptible

to social shame and ostracism. The wife in ttie prestige drama was labeled as adulterous and promiscuous as a result of her husband's public outcries; even her best friends refused to send their children to the nursery school owned by this lady. Such telecasts support again the basic cultural value that sexual relations are to be preserved for and exercised within the marital union. 100

Writers, futurists, and others could view the above presentations as

being very important for future social organization in that they lay the

foundation for a redefinition of marital and familial responsibilities.

This is anticipatory socialization. Such broadcasts prepare the viewer

for the eventuality that parents can control the sex of their offsprings.

Sex control refers to the various means of pre-selecting the sex of the

yet unconceived baby through rhythm methods, sex control pills, sperm

treatment and artificial insemination. These are forthcoming technological

possibilities about which sociologists, as well as others, need to be con­

cerned (Largey, 1973). Television's portrayals of such material not only

socializes for the future but it also displays what needs to be done le­

gally and socially to prepare the way for this technological breakthrough.

The necessary social expectations would be in existence when the time comes

for sex control of offspring because of the anticipatory socialization and

creation of new convictions potential of television.

It appears that television content concerning sexual mores is extreme­

ly traditional in comparison to the so-called contemporary "sex revolution".

It can be argued that no revolution is taking place because people are only more open about sexual matters, contraceptives are available to the general public, formalized sex education courses, etc. However, if a person per­ ceives a sex revolution to be taking place, then for him cognitively one is. Such a viewer would not find much support for this perception in tele­ vision. There were no scenes at all depicting any forms of pre-marital courting-sexual activities. There were several instances of displayed extra-marital kissing between married adults along with implied sexual 101

relations. But accompanying these were serious personal repercussions.

In one serial, the result of an extra-marital affair for the female was her

murder. Her married male companion was a prime suspect. This same man was

refused conjugal interaction by his wife when she found out about his

affair. The same general theme of negative sanctions and outcomes accom­

panied other extra-marital displays. The emission of these scenes dis­

playing what happens to those who have extra-marital sexual affairs is

symbolic displaying the wrath of society for violations of one of its most

deeply held mores. On the other hand, if there are radical changes taking

place, at least as far as the total society is concerned, then perhaps

television should be braodcasting more of this material to keep viwers up-

to-date in the area of sexual mores. If one can take the following state­

ment of factual changes to be accurate, then television may be maintaining

cultural lag. As Udry notes: "It is worth noting that a national sample

in 1963 showed 77% of Americans think pre-marital sex is 'wrong'. In the

1969 survey, this had dropped to 68 percent....Studies show that the

permissiveness-with-affection orientation is particularly strong among the

younger generations of Americans" (1971:126).

Concerning the family's internal division of labor and authority pat­

terns, television may be here creating new impressions. In the sample,

both husbands and wives were doing basically the same things within the family unit. Neither was restricted to a particular set of displayed acts.

More on role behaviors in the next unit*

Whether or not the families' power structures were bascially patri­ archal, matriarchal, family council, or democratic, is not easily deter­ 102

mined. There was only one example of the democratic family power structure

where the parents and children talked over their future plans or what de­

cision to make. In the family council, as opposed to the democratic unit,

the children could out-vote (if three or more children) their parents; in

the democratic, the parents have veto power. There were no presentations of the family council type.

Husbands tended to have their areas of responsibility and decision­ making within the conjugal unit as did the wives. Other areas of decisions are made together. This division of labor was presented in the televised scenes. However, there appeared to be an overlapping of areas of authority.

For instance, in one scene the wife decided that the husband could not beat up her old boyfriend. Another scene depicted the husband deciding his wife could not buy certain clothes he disliked. Overall the frequencies of decisions that affected one's spouse were equal. Each made decisions for the other an equal number of times. This is especially true if one does not include the movie "The Diary of a Mad Housewife"; exclusion of this obviously patricentric movie brings the equality of decisions much closer together. This movie showed the wife playing an obviously subservient role doing everything her husband ordered. She didn't like it, but did it anyway. Eventually she had a non-marital sexual affair with accompanying repercussions at home. She and her husband reconciled with the husband agreeing to be less demanding.

The equality of husband and wife within the family unit m^y be a new behavior model for some viewers. This would be especially true for the viewer of the lower socio-economic classes in whose family the husband holds the superior position. The repercussions of such equalitarian themes 103

could create conflict within such families if the wife, for example,

"learned" that her position is equal to that of her husband. On the other

hand, the husband could agree that her position is equal to his and thereby

acquire and accept more middle-class role behaviors. The important vari­

able would be the viewers' predispositions toward the message. (For more

on working class norms, see Miller and Riessman 1969.)

Acquisition and acceptance of more equalitari an middle-class expecta­

tions could be beneficial for the lower socio-economic viewer were he in­

terested in being upwardly mobile. In this sense television would serve

an anticipatory socialization function, socializing the viewer for the

realities of the new social position before he gets there.

The occupational opportunities for married women according to the

sampled programs are very limited. The majority of the married women were

housewives with no other displayed occupational pursuits. A distant second occupation was nurse. The remainder of the female occupations are listed

in Table 3^ The same table displays the occupational pursuits of the husband. A much greater diversity of possibilities exist for married males than married females.

Coupled especially with the previously noted sex discrimination theme, television may create the impression or define the situation in such a way that viewers may agree that more occupational equality should exist. This is particularly true with the renewed interest and publicity given women's li beration.

Parenthetically, the televised occupations coincided very little with the labor force of Newberry County, South Carolina, the county of residence 104

for the writer when the television sample was drawn. As Table 3 indi­

cates, those occupations displayed most frequently were upper socio­

economic ones; this is especially true for male occupations (DeFleur et

al., 1971:228).

Table 3

One week's frequencies of incumbents occupations by sex in programs containing marriage & family subject-mattera

MALE OCCUPATION FREQUENCY FEMALE OCCUPATION FREQUEN

1. Physi ci an 17 1. Housewi fe 37 2. Attorney 10 2. Nurse 5 3. Restaurant Owner 3 3. Governess 2 4. Archi tect 2 3. Attorney 2 4. Real Estate Developer 2 . 3. Lab Tech. 2 4. Intern 2 3. Secretary 2 4. Wri ter 2 3. Day Care Center 5. Psychiatrist 1 Manager 2 5. Lumber Yard Owner 1 3. Part-Time Singer 2 5. Lumber Yard Employee 1 3. Librarian 2 5. Psychologi st 1 3. Interns 2 5. Factory Worker 1 4. Manager Book Store 1 5. Junkyard Owner 1 4. Medical Doctor 1 5. Salesman 1 5. Writer/Taxi Driver 1 5. Delicatessen Owner 1 5. Professor 1 5. Bookkeeper 1 5. Juvenile Counselor 1 5. Advertising Agent 1 5. Farmer 1 5. T.V. Talk Show Moderator 1 aSame occupation displayed repeatedly on successive programs may be counted more than once.

The occupational category in Newberry County with the modal frequency is

"craftsman, foreman, and kindred workers". The majority of the labor force is associated with the textile mills or forest related products. Only ,k% 105

of the county's labor force is in the two categories of physicians and

dentists or engineers. None of the black labor force in the county are

in either of these two categories (Census, 1970). Therefore, with the ex­

ception of a very few blue-collar occupations there was no congruency of

televised occupations with those held by the viewers, at least as far as

Newberry County, South Carolina is concerned.

Returning to the subject-matter, as Christenson noted, "...these out­

pourings (from mass media) both inform and motivate the consuming public

toward accepted goals in family living; at the worst, they only distort

and destroy" (1964:978). If this can be paraphrased in functional terms,

mass media may cultivate and support certain cultural configurations or

goals surrounding the institution of marriage and family. Shared convic­

tions that could be reinforced would include the desirability of marriage and family as a life goal, sexual relations should be contained within marriage, and negative social sanctions will occur for those who violate these norms. Furthermore, the woman's place is in the home, there ought to be equality between the husband and wife (at least in certain areas of decision-making), and divorced individuals ought to consider remarriage.

Areas of marital and familial activities in which television may func­ tion to redefine the more traditional social expectations include divorce being preferable to remaining married in an unhappy situation and that one can remarry after a divorce with less social stigma than before.

Single parent families can work reasonably well even though remarriage is more desirable; artificial insemination is a possibility for couples who cannot reproduce otherwise. 106

There was little if any material in the programs analyzed that de­

picted something entirely new, substitutive or additive to the present

patterned ways of regulating marital and familial behavior patterns. There

were no indications that the marriage and family of the future would exist

without the benefit of legalized and socially recognized restrictions and

requirements. There was one single-parent family in which the parent had

not been previously married. The child was the result of a rape. Outside

of this one exception, there were no scenes depicting a female with a child

kept from a non-marital pregnancy. Absent also were scenes depicting

family communes or family clusters. There was, however, a "hint" of a

Roman Catholic priest having more than a "fatherly" interest in a young

female parishioner. Roman Catholic priests demitting for marriage is not

entirely a novel idea. Maybe television is trying to catch up with con­

temporary issues. Basically, then, the scenes analyzed contained little

content that would socialize the viewer in ways that are new or additive

to the present patterns; even more noticeably absent were forms of behavior

that would take the place of or substitute for the contemporary marital

and familial patterns.

Many of the television programs that portray contemporary marital and familial subject-matter are obviously fictional. Many are humorous and do not deal with serious topics. Regardless of their serious or hu­ morous format, the assumption holds that television can influence behavior and, therefore, have functions for the American society.

Concerning the seriousness of the marital problems presented, the tone of the serials was more serious than the light situation comedies. 107

and to a degree, also the movies. The themes of the serials dealt with

many areas that some have defined as social problems: divorce, non-marital

pregnancies, extra-marital relations, illnesses, in-law problems, a kid­

napping, a mental replay of a rape, and a suicide attempt. The very nature

of the broadcast, the tone of the action, and the topics impress upon the

viewer the attention and importance he should give them. This is part of

the reasons why so many respondents in various studies have noted that they

talk less and pay more attention to the dramatic programs (including soaps)

than other programs. And as noted previously, many indicate that they

learn from such programs.

The tenor or tone of the light situation comedies is much less focused

on or reflective of serious issues. The obvious purpose of this program

type is entertainment and relaxation. However, this is not to preclude

the possibility that the viewer cannot learn while being entertained.

Sociologically, humor and comedy can serve three important functions.

First, they can support and implement the socialization process by high­

lighting certain members of society whose behaviors are considered odd or

peculiar. "By 'making fun' of institutions, places, and types of persons

humor, wit and comedy reinforce social norms of propriety and indicate the

price that has to be paid for deviance from these norms" (Mendelsohn, 1966;

80). These, then, generally support the status quo. From the sample pro­ grams, an example would be "Sanford and Son" in which "Pop" makes fun of and teases his son about the artifacts, music, and personal dress of the

"soul movement".

A second function of comedy and humor is the opposite of the first; 108

it is the purpose of humor or comedy to upset the status quo by ridiculing

the honored aspects of society such as certain institutions, mores, laws,

etc. Portrayed on the new "Dick Van Dyke" program were scenes displaying

a grandmother on "pot". Inadvertently, she had acquired several joints

of marijuana and was arrested while driving "under the influence". In ad­

dition to the law on marijuana being ridiculed, the procedures of the

policemen in the booking and preliminary detention process were "made fun"

of when they arrested the grandmother. Mendelsohn (I966) indicates that

such ridiculing scenes display "...that the giants have feet of clay, that

the power system is not impervious to ridicule and, perhaps, to change"

(81).

Finally, comedies allow bringing to the conscious level under socially

approved conditions a wide variety of tabooed feeling and topics. This way

one could deal with sexual matters or topics dealing with religion without

fear of repercussions. "All in the Family" recurrently portrays conflicts

between the newly married daughter and her husband with his father-in-law.

In the program in the sample, issues were being made and questions were

raised concerning the son-in-law's pre-marital activities with girls other

than his wife. Such topics are usually not discussed with in-laws. One other light situation comedy dealt with a topic that is usually not dis­ cussed - inter-religious marriages. CBS's "Bridget Loves Bernie" portrays a Roman Catholic girl married to a Jew. Various references throughout the program were made about this extremely unusual religious combination.

Nevertheless, the couple is portrayed as being very happily married; even the families of orientation get along pretty good. Jewish groups pri- 109

man'ly have objected to the program because it "...centers mostly on the

...treatment of interfaith marriage as desirable" (The State, 1973). The

Rabbinical Alliance of America charged that "religion is not a joke or a

nonsensical anachronism or a subject for satire which this series attempts

to make of it". Furthermore, a national organization of Orthodox Jewish

Rabbies have called "Bridget Loves Bernie" "...a flagrant insult and act

of disrespect to Orthodox Judiasm and...most Orthodox Jews" (The Lutheran,

1973). Yet not "Bridget Loves Bernie" nor any other program sampled dis­

played one religious act on the part of the husband-father or wife-mother.

The prestige drama dealt with an artificial insemination that had not

only legal repercussions for the physician involved, but also created con­

siderable marital and social problems for the wife. The tenor of the pro­

gram was serious and reserved with the notable absence of laughter. It

would appear to this writer that this program would demand a lot of atten­

tion and interest on the part of the viewer. This type of program does

receive more attention and might have more potential influence as a social­

ization agent.

The movies utilized two primary tones in presenting their material.

"The Thrill of it All" and "Never Too Late" utilized a comedy approach to

address respectively the topics of a working wife who should stay home

(according to her husband) and a couple expecting a baby late in the child-

bearing years. Although both created serious intra-conjugal unit problems,

they were extremely funny in the way the content was presented. This use of

humor and comedy allows for an attack on the status quo in a non-threaten-

ing way. One movie criticized, depending on one's point of view, either

the wife working even though she didn't need to or the husband for getting no

upset about hi s wife working. Regarding the arrival of a baby rather late

in life, the movie could be understood to be critical of the cultural ex­

pectations and norms that couples should have children regardless of the

wife's age. Although the content of this movie could be thought of as ex­

posing the hypocrisy of many couples who have a menopause baby, they ap­

peared openly enthusiastic about the new addition, but inwardly are quite

upset. Abortion as an alternative was not mentioned.

The third movie was devoid of humor or comedy. The tenor of the movie

was rather straight forward and lack-lustre. In fact, it was almost monot­ onous. "The Diary of a Mad Housewife" would appear to this writer to

appeal only to those women who were very interested in women's liberation.

Perhaps some viewers would see it as an indirect, satirical attack on male

superiority.

The program types had general overall themes that separately or as a whole have educational and functional consequences for the television viewer as well as society in general. This conclusion is not altered by the fictional or non-fictional nature of the programs because the most important variable is the perception of the viewer, which is extremely difficult to capture scientifically. "If the fictionalized drama programs are perceived to have some reality, the content, the symbols, the inter­ actions, and the overall messages may not be discounted or dismissed as they might be in a program that is perceived as just another program"

(Television and Growing Up, 1972:60). The following discussion concerns the educational or learning as well as other functions of the subject- matter for the individual as a member of a conjugal unit. m

The Implications of Televised Role Behaviors for the Conjugal Unit

Whereas the previous discussion centered on the general themes of the

programs analyzed, the focus now moves to a discussion of specific role be­

haviors displayed by the television incumbents of the status-roles of

husband-father and wife-mother. These role behaviors reflect interaction

between the husband and wife as well as each of these incumbents with their

children. It is these patterns of interaction that are important for the

viewer as he interacts as either a husband or wife, father or mother.

Not only do people learn marital and familial role expectations from

their families of orientation, they can also acquire patterns from mass

media including television. Television may serve as a source for addition­

al and/or different contemporary values and norms. If television presents

such fare, what then are the learning possibilities as well as the im­

plications for the viewer as these pertain to contemporary marital and familiai interaction?

The following discussion of the impact of the role behavior models as

portrayed in the sample programs is derived from the data contained in

Tables 18 through 23 of Appendix A. The frequencies of the acts displayed there serve as the source of the various statements made by this writer.

In some cases, these data are reproduced in the text to highlight a point.

In others, they are only alluded to in a general fashion.

In general, the role expectations and behaviors displayed do not lend themselves easily to a bipolar typology with the husband always doing "his thing" and the wife hers. These role behaviors cannot be easily classified as either instrumental or expressive with the husband being restricted to 112

the former and the wife the latter. In various situations, each spouse

displayed some behavior that would be more typical of the other's duties

if one were to dichotomize role expectations strictly. The only way that

the role behaviors, as portrayed in the sample programs, could possibly be

dichotomized into instrumental or expressive would be to state that it was

primarily the male who made the connection between the neolocal conjugal

unit and the outside economic world (instrumental) via his occupational

duties. The most often displayed occupation for the wife was homemaking;

this could be interpreted as the expressive role. However, not all of the

wife's role behaviors in the home are expressive nor are all of the hus­

band's limited to connections with the "outside" world. Therefore, it

must be concluded that the role expectations and behaviors as displayed on television are not indicative of dichotomous role patterns.

For the not-yet-married viewers, the general picture of the inter­ action between the spouses portrays love and happiness. Although inter­

personal difficulties were presented, they were not as frequent nor did they saturate the recording unit as much as behaviors more typical of a harmonious smoothly-working unit. Table 4 displays the frequencies of three marital and familial acts that are assumed to be typical of marriages in which both spouses are happy with each other as well as the marriage. 113

Table 4

Frequencies of affectionate acts in husband-wife interaction

Husband Wife to Affectionate Acts to wife Husband

Concern 12 12

Display of Verbal Affection 80 78

Display of Physical Affection 81 J1

Total 173 153

As the table indicates, the husband displayed more affectionate acts than

did the wife. Furthermore, these frequencies indicate that the husband

initiated more such acts than did the wife. Acts classified as ones dis­

playing "concern" were those where the spouse registered in interrogative terms his personal concern or worry over the other's well being. Such would be the case when one would be injured or ill. Usage of affectionate symbols such as "dear" "darling" and "honey" by an incumbent were class­ ified as acts displaying "verbal affection". Displays of physical affec­ tion include expressive acts such as hugging, kissing, and caressing of one's spouse. Physical affection would also include coital acts, but, of course, none were portrayed.

Males in our society are generally socialized not to display their emotions, not to act affectionately especially in public, but rather dis­ play their "masculinity" in a reserved and non-emotional manner. Husbands on television display behaviors in opposition to this cultural expectation.

These displayed acts took place between married couples and, therefore, serve to socialize the non-married viewer to both display and expect these 114

behaviors vis-a-vis his spouse. However, to expect one's spouse to do

the same in public might create inter-personal problems. These behaviors,

too, are generally supportive of the earlier noted cultural configuration

that the institution of marriage and family in the United States is a focal point of personal happiness.

Similar statements can be made about the displayed acts of the hus­

band-father and wife-mother toward their children. Table 5 displays

the frequencies of these same affectionate acts toward the children.

Table 5

Frequencies of affectionate acts toward children

Father Father to Mother Mother to Affectionate Acts to Son Dauqhter to Son Dauqhter

Concern 7 3 5 4

Display of Verbal Affection 3 8 9 6

Display of Physical Affection _9 _2 11 ]±

Total 19 20 27 21

Although the frequencies are not as great (there were, overall, far less scenes involving children than husband and wife), the father as well as the mother is portrayed as displaying affectionate behaviors. In terms of the instrumental-expressive (husband-wife) dichotomy, the affectionate acts portrayed are not the exclusive characteristics of one or the other spouse. The husband, as well as the wife, is displaying expressive acts within the family unit.

Regarding anticipatory socialization, these affectionate acts could 115

teach the viewer (male or female) that such displays of affection are

things that one's spouse should do. These may become defined as role ex­

pectations for one's spouse. When the spouse displays such role behaviors

all is fine; when he does not, their absence could become a point of ir­

ritation. The degree to which the absence could create discord could be affected by examples of similar behavior in one's family of orientation.

If a male's father and mother were openly affectionate toward each other he, too, would more likely be toward his spouse. His parents' behaviors, then, would be reinforced by television's portrayals. If his parents were not outwardly affectionate, the effect of such presentations by television programs could be interpreted and cognitively processed or mapped in one of several ways. For example, if the viewer perceived the program to be fictional, especially those that have a humorous tone to them, the behav­ iors displayed may be cognitively mapped as unreal and not acquired let alone adopted or accepted. In other words, the viewer would not utilize nor personally accept these behaviors as a model.

The same behaviors displayed on dramatic programs, such as the soap operas, would more likely be perceived typical of the real world. One might include these acts as role models both in terms of cognitively ac­ quiring as well as accepting them as guidelines for personal interactions.

Therefore, not only could the viewer reproduce these acts (acquire) but would utilize them (accept) in similar situations should they arise.

It was the husband-father, however, who was portrayed as being the chief disciplinarian. For every verbal reprimand or disciplinary action taken on the part of the mother, there was almost one and two-thirds taken né

by the father. The only disciplinary acts taken by a parent toward a child

that could be classified as violent (threatened or actual use of force)

were done on one occasion by the mother to one son and one daughter. These

violent acts were two spankings and one slap; as noted earlier there was a total absence of acts displaying child abuse or neglect.

For the viewer who is not married or a parent, these role behaviors define the familial setting as being basically conflict-free, with the use of force or violence on the part of parents toward their children being extremely rare. The absence of conflict between parents and children is supportive of the myth (so says LeMasters, 1970) that children and child rearing are fun. Furthermore, the displayed uses of predominately verbal discipline could become accepted role expectations for one's future spouse.

The advent of children for many couples is a crisis situation (LeMasters,

1957). The couple, having been socialized that the presence of children reinforces and maintains the on-going harmony of the marital situation, is lost for appropriate role behaviors when their patience wears thin; they're exhausted from lack of sleep; the husband is upset with his wife because she spends more time and energy on the child than on him, financial con­ cerns increase, social life decreases, etc. Not only did television's portrayals of marital and familial life fail to depict these "joys" al­ together, what they did present either fails to apply to early stages of child care or provide assistance for parents with older children who find it extremely taxing not to use corporal punishment in disciplining children.

The display of the incessant trying of parents' patience by a child was totally absent in the programs analyzed. So, too, were acts that showed 117

parents at the "end of their ropes". If the surprisingly high statistics

on child abuse are valid (Gil, 1971; Goode, 1971)» then television is re­

miss in not displaying more appropriate behavior patterns to deal with

parent-child conflict, assuming that society frowns upon severe violence

directed toward children.

Not only does the omission of serious parent-child conflict have re­

percussions for these interactions, it can also contribute to marital

conflict. A viewer may (having acquired and accepted marital and familial

roles from television) find that after the children arrive, his spouse

displays role behaviors that are incongruent and conflict with his. The

husband, according to his wife, is much too quick to revert to violence

in dealing with the children. The husband may only be displaying be­

haviors that he feels are appropriate for him as a father to do. These

reflect proper expectations and behaviors that he sees for himself as the incumbent of the status "father". Such expectations may have been derived from his family of orientation where his father (of lower socio-economic status) often used violence against his children. His wife, on the other

hand, being from a middle-class family, frowns upon the use of violence.

In addition to the absence of violence in her family of orientation, her perceptions of the appropriate behaviors of her husband as father to their children were reinforced by television's portrayals of what fathers do in disciplining their children. Such areas of interpersonal conflict are not amenable to pre-marital discussions of marital role duties and ex­ pectations. Not only are such discussions softened by the romance of the moment, one does not actually know how he will react in a situation 118

until he is faced with it. This is most certainly true for parenthood.

Relatively few acts dealt with any financial concerns in the conjugal

unit. There were a few more acts displayed by the husband than the wife

regarding financial concerns. Specifically, the majority of these re­

corded acts came from one movie "Never Too Late" in which a wife (in her

late forties) was again pregnant. The husband was upset, as well as the

wife, concerning money for a new nursery, furniture, diapers, etc. With

this noted exception, most of the other recorded scenes noted no concerns

with family income. The lack of such acts could be perceived by some

viewers as meaning that money is not a problem in marriage. Never dis­

playing a couple's attempts to make ends meet or an argument over what

should be purchased is a serious omission. For many couples the alloca­

tion of financial resources is a very difficult task. Furthermore, this

omission may further support the cultural configuration that the marital

situation is conflict free even with regards to money. Even the children

in the television families were protected from knowledge of financial con­

cerns with only two acts displaying parental concern with budgetary

matters.

The husbands in the sample were presented as frequently taking their wives out to dinner. This was the primary recreational activity that they initiated. On two occasions, a wife initiated a pool game with her hus­

band. In both sets of pool scenes, the incumbents were portrayed as having a good time and enjoying each other's company. No scenes depicted a couple just watching television, a very popular source of entertainment. All the couple's recreational pursuits were more interesting and exciting. This 119

would appear to be atypical for the majority of American viewers. Absent

also for those couples with children were any problems with getting baby­

sitters. These everyday problems of parenthood were not presented. Such

omissions tend to define in still another way the lack of problems in the

American family.

Supportive of the "problem free" theme of many of the subject-matter

programs were those acts on the part of parents initiating recreational

activities with the children. For example, fathers were portrayed as

flying model airplanes with their sons and playing scrabble with their

daughters. Mothers played baseball with their sons and knitted or cro­

cheted with their daughters. Parents, furthermore, were portrayed as as­

sisting their children with various problems ranging from homework through

financial indebtedness. On several occasions children were praised by

their parents. Friendly and courteous discussions about adolescent con­

cerns, personal problems, dates, or school matters were frequently pre­

sented as taking place between parents and children. Few acts displayed

parental disgust with the presence of children. Most of the parents were

portrayed to be happy with having children. Parents, according to tele­

vision, never get "fed up" with having children around.

Television may define the family setting as one in which the children are participants, members who actively take part causing, little or no dif­ ficulties. The behaviors of the parents toward the children support this impression. The type of socialization process utilized by the parents in the programs analyzed, could be called "participatory socialization".

Such a socialization process views the child as an active participant in 120

the family unit. Rather than the children being satellites of the marital

unit, they are more of a core. The children are taught via rewards rather

than punishment; in the ideal model corporal punishment is absent. Such

a socialization process is more typical of the middle than lower-class

families. The lower-class families generally use more corporal punish­

ment emphasizing child obedience and acquiescence rather than participa­

tion (Broom and Selznick,1963:373). This model (repressive socialization

model) was absent in the scenes analyzed.

The presentation of acts emphasizing the participatory socialization

process could have several repercussions. For the lower-class viewer,

they could serve as an ideal model for parental actions toward their chil­

dren. The success rate, this writer expects, would be low. For many

parents such acts would be dysfunctional in interaction with their children.

For the middle-class viewer who, to some extent, has tried to be more of

a friend than a parent, he might try even harder. Perhaps he might spec­ ifically try some of the parental acts displayed. They always work on television; to the degree that one perceives television portrayals to be real, the viewer may continue to follow these parental role models. After all, one never has the opportunity to play parent for even a few days; it is a full-time job. But how much preparation does one have for this most demanding occupation? None! Therefore, a viewer, who has enlisted or has been drafted into this responsibility, may be actively seeking advice from any available source. Television is a very prolific media when it comes to portraying acts that are meaningful to a substantial number of viewers; many parental acts are portrayed daily. 121

Predominately the marital and familial acts stressed inter-personal

harmony within the family unit. However, there were scenes depicting dis­

agreements between the spouses. The husband and wife initiated about the

same number of arguments. These disagreements generally were of two broad

types: those disagreements of an interpersonal and marital nature and

those pertaining to actions or activities outside of the nuclear unit.

Examples of interpersonal disagreements would include the wife's

dislike about her husband going out all the time leaving her alone with

the children, or her general disgust with their way of life, for which the

husband was responsible. Some wives were arguing with their husbands over

the importance of other pre-marital girl friends. None of these got beyond

a very superficial level which might include, for example, discussions of

pre-marital relations. Others centered on the wife working outside the

home with the husband claiming she should stay home, the divorced wife dis­ playing anger over her daughter's illness apparently not considered serious by the father, or the wife who was upset about her husband not taking her out to dinner.

Two of the more serious inter-spouse conflicts dealt with issues that would appear to be more detrimental in terms of the impact on one's sense of "self". One argument found the wife calling the husband "childish" for his expressed distaste for taking out the garbage and his retort calling her "immature" for getting so upset. These adjectives could have a nega­ tive effect on one's sense of self especially since they came from persons considered important to the other. Quickly this couple apologized and went to "bed". 122

The other argument was between a separated couple in which the wife

was all upset about the qualifications and especially the beauty of the

son's new governess. The father insisted, in front of the child, that the

mother leave, since the child resided with his father. Such scenes place

the child in the middle being forced to side with one against the other.

The child as a victim of the divorce was hereby portrayed. To many

viewers such scenes demonstrate the undesirabi1ity of divorce, especially

if there are children involved. However, in the same serial, the husband

was displaying more than employer-employee type interest in the new govern­

ess who got along very well with the child. There was a "hint" of a

possible remarriage for both the governess and her employer which would be

supportive of the "remarriage" theme discussed earlier.

In general, the other arguments between the husband and wife con­

cerned friends outside the conjugal relationship and, therefore, are as­

sumed not to have the same potential for deleterious effects on the couple.

Such arguments included the happiness state of a friend's marriage, a defense of a wife's friend's activities, the wife's arguments with her physician, and an old-time friend who has come to visit.

There were, of course, arguments about the in-laws. However, these did not lead to any severe split within the conjugal unit. After all, in­ law jokes (especially mother-in-law) are indicative of the American empha­ sis on separate residental facilities away from other family ties.

The acts categorized as "complaints about spouse" were differentiated from arguments in that these complaints were made to one's spouse in front of outsiders. In addition, these also refer to distastes that one spouse 123

communicated to the other personally. Such acts included the husband com­

plaining about his wife not getting his lunches on time but her insisting

that he take out the garbage promptly. Furthermore, he complained about

having to give up the night with the boys after marriage because his wife

"insisted". Other husbands complained about their wives' bickering and

pestering them to do various things. One husband complained about his

wife sleeping too much, her too straight hair, her smoking too much and

her lousy cooking.

Wives complained about husbands discussing former girl friends, not

dancing with them in public, criticizing them in front of their children, for agreeing with husband's friend instead of his wife, and not pushing enough at the office.

It is difficult to state conclusively that any or all of the above complaint topics would be deleterious to the future happiness of the couple or to the continuation of the marriage. Such conclusions would warrant further longitudinal analysis to determine whether or not these were new additive areas of complaints or recurring topics. New areas of conflict created by television portrayals of husbands and wives could be detrimental to the continuation of a given conjugal unit.

Regardless of whether or not the disagreement categories of "argu­ ments" or "complaints" are of primary concern, both the husband as well as the wife were displayed as initiating requests for forgiveness or apologies for what they said or did. The data do not demonstrate how many complaints or arguments were resolved by an apology; more than one could be solved by one apology. The more important role expectation and behavior to be 124

learned is that both spouses do apologize to each other.

Not all conflicts were resolved by harmony-producing apologies. Tele­

vision husbands and wives each displayed two acts each of leaving their

spouse. In one case the husband stormed out of the house rather disgusted

with his wife. It was not displayed in the sample program recorded wheth­

er or not he returned. One husband who had admitted having an adulterous

affair was portrayed as returning to the neolocal unit. His wife in two

separate scenes refused any physical contact with him. His pleading for forgiveness did no good. These were the strongest rebuttals or negative acts displayed by any wife toward her husband in all the recorded scenes.

No violent acts were threatened or portrayed by the wife toward her hus­ band. Although there were no physical acts of violence demonstrated, two scenes displayed a threat of force by the husband toward the wife should she continue to disagree and not do what he wished. Noticeably absent were any severely violent scenes such as those that might climax in per­ sonal injury or death. It is commonly known that most assaults and hom­ icides occur between people that know each other and that such acts often occur i n the home.

The general absence of severe marital conflict, plus the repetitive presentation of acts resolving the mild conflict presented in the subject- matter programs, defines inter-spouse relations as being basically harmon­ ious. Should a conflict exist, according to television's portrayals, it can be generally alleviated by reserved and apologetic behaviors.

The often-repeated theme of harmonious interactions between the marital partners was reinforced by the frequency of acts that portrayed 125

the husband and wife having affable discussions about a wide variety of

topics. On many occasions, the discussions centered upon their children's

concerns or problems. Some couples were concerned about the marital hap­

piness of their children. Other scenes depicted the parents discussing

how to get their divorced child remarried. Trips, business activities,

neighborhood gossip, the latest pregnancy, the latest news of marriages, engagements, and somebody's illness were frequent topics of pleasant con­ jugal discussions. Such acts again display conflict-free, harmonious acts

between the husband and wife. The same theme was portrayed when the par­ ents discussed in a pleasant manner various issues or problems with the children. Such acts between the parents and their children reinforce the cultural expectation that parents care for their children and want to be involved with their problems.

These spouses also displayed acts that were supportive of each other.

The husband and wife complimented each other for various things done. The parents also complimented their children for successful accomplishments.

Such acts are not only indicative of the participatory socialization model, but are reflective of cultural values emphasizing achievement, success, and the rewards of hard work.

It is not possible to state unequivocally how a particular viewer would perceive the various roles portrayed. The above discussion reflects the analysis of only one investigator-viewer. Others might see the same content differently and formulate other conclusions or functions for the televised role behaviors. This reiterates the importance of the viewer as an interpreting agent, rather than just a responding being. Because of 12é

this interpretative process and the fact that this research project dealt

primarily with televised messages, it is not possible to specifically state

causes and effects for the viewers.

The following unit discusses the realism of the televised marital and

familial role behaviors. This is done by using Hurvitz's (1961) sample of

middle-class role behaviors as one set of criteria by which television's

presentations can be evaluated.

The Realism of the Televised Role Behaviors

How realistic are the marital and familial role behaviors on tele­

vision? To what degree do they coincide with the real world of the tele­

vision viewer?

The question of realism or isomorphy between the world of the viewer and television portrayals is extremely important in light of the dual assumption that television can influence behavior and that this has func­ tional importance for both society as well as the conjugal unit. The im­ portance of this question is heightened when one considers that some viewers specifically watch and learn from specific types of television programs.

It was also indicated that some viewers find some television programs realistic (LoSciuto, 1971). It was not within the research project's goal to investigate the matter of the effects of marital and familial role be­ haviors on viewers. However, the question of realism is extremely im­ portant should such an investigation be undertaken.

The isomorphy of the televised role behaviors with the real world of the viewer will be discussed by using a middle-class sample's inventory of 127

role behaviors. Hurvftz (1961) investigated the role sets (behaviors) of

middle-class spouses not only to determine what specific behaviors were

displayed, but also to investigate these behaviors as aspects of a social­

ization process. These purposes coincide with those of this investigation.

The televised roles as extracted from the sampled television programs

will be compared to Hurvitz's sample in two ways. The role behaviors of

the television sample as compared to Hurvitz's role sets will be compared

for the purpose of discerning the amount of reality they portray. Sec­ ondly, the impact or the possible effects of these televised role behaviors

will be discussed as very important components of the marital and familial socialization process. This discussion will be the core of the final chap­ ter which deals with hypotheses and suggestions for future research.

The husband's roles according to Hurvitz's sample (underlined) include his doing his jobs around the house. This refers to yard work, various re­ pairs, other masculine household chores, and the display of a general in­ terest in making the house pleasant to live in. Such acts were almost to­ tally absent from the television sample's role behaviors. There was only one act in which the television husband took out the garbage because his wife asked him. The more routine daily household responsibilities of middle-class males are absent from the role behaviors of television hus­ bands. They are portrayed as having no household duties or responsibili­ ties.

The husband is a companion to his wife, sharing his leisure time with her, rather than with children or friends, displaying an interest in what she is doing, refraining from abuse or ridicule of her, seeking to help 128

her fulfill herself, and viewing her as a confidante with whom he can dis­

cuss various matters. The televised role behaviors dovetail with these

middle-class expectations. Television husbands display an interest in the

wife's activities, they express their concern for their wives' well being,

verbal and physical affection are part of their role behaviors, and they

participate in recreational activities with their spouses. Although the

television husbands do complain about their wives, they also apologize in

many instances. Furthermore, television husbands assisted, complimented,

comforted, and discussed various items with their spouses. Hurvitz's role

sets do not include any violent behavior on the part of middle-class hus­

bands; they refrain from abuse or ridicule of their wife. The television

husbands did display two acts that were classified as "violent" because of

the broad definition of the term. Other than the noted exception, tele­

vision's role behaviors for husbands are isomorphic with Hurvitz's sample

and to that degree realistic.

The middle-class husband assists the children in their development by

being their friend, teacher, and guide. This involves leisure-time activ­

ities, helping with school work, peer problems, etc. He uses punishment

understandingly and disciplines in relationship to the situation, avoiding abuse of the children. Television fathers do likewise. They recreate with their children, take care of children, display verbal and physical affec­ tion toward them, take an interest in their activities, and display con­ cern for their well being.

The middle-class husband earns the living and supports the family.

The husbands on television likewise are the primary breadwinners. 129

Husbands do their wife's work around the house if his help is needed.

Such times would be when the wife was ill or required by special circum­

stances. Similar acts were not displayed by television husbands.

The display and practice of the family religion is typical of middle-

class husbands. Religious acts were totally absent from the role behaviors

of television husbands.

The middle-class husband is a sexual partner to his wife. He gains

as well as gives sexual satisfaction with his wife, not showing sexual

interest in other women. Other than kissing, there were no acts typifying

sexual interaction between spouses in the television sample. The tele­

vision husbands did, however, display tender attention and interest by

verbal and physical affection as is expected of middle-class husbands.

Contrary to middle-class expectations, there were displays of extra­ marital affairs by some television husbands. These were implied to be sexual in nature, but were, or course, not displayed. In this one area, television husbands are displaying behaviors that are not totally con­ sistent with middle-class norms.

If the family is still divided after discussing something, the middle- class husband decides. The husband is recognized and referred to by his wife as the decision-maker, casting the "tie-breaking vote" when needed.

Televised behaviors on this matter do not show the husband to be patri­ archal but more equalitarian, sharing the decision-making with his spouse.

It would appear that the middle-class husband is also not a patriarch; therefore, television husbands are similar in this respect.

Manaqi nq the fami1 y i ncome and fi nances i s the responsi bi1i ty of the 130

husband. Bringing home the money, planning for its use, subordinating his

immediate needs for the long range goals of the family, and developing

plans for future family security are also his duties. Husbands on tele­

vision display more concern over financial matters than do wives. Other

than in this way, television husbands' duties as a money manager are

neglected.

Finally, the middle-class husband represents and advances his family in the community. In this area the husband wants the family to "get ahead" and avoid dependence on others. The husband holds attitudes and values consistent with community standards. By omission of acts to the contrary, television husbands are consistent with middle-class norms. By inference only can one state that television husbands depict similar be­ havior. It can be observed from the table that many middle-class hus­ bands' role behaviors are displayed on television. There are some im­ portant notable exceptions as indicated. Because of the isomorphy of the two sets of roles, it can be stated that television husbands do display behaviors that are typical of middle-class husbands. It is not possible to determine at this time how "real" any particular act is for any given viewer. It is possible that the notable exceptions to Hurvitz's sample are "real" to some male viewers and are part of their marital role sets.

The social history of the viewer, his unique set of predispositions, and his group setting will affect his perception and interpretation of the be­ haviors of the television husbands. Therefore, the effects of these por­ trayals remain hypothetical at this time. Table 6 summarizes the be- ^ haviors of middle-class husbands as well as those of television husbands. 131

Table 6

Middle-class husbands' role behaviors as compared to television husbands' role behaviors

MIDDLE-CLASS HUSBANDS TELEVISION HUSBANDS

Does Household Jobs Refrain from doing household tasks Companion to Wife Companion to Wife Assists Children's Development Assist Children's Development Earns Living Earn Living Does Wife's Work Do NOT do Wife's Work Displays Family Religion Do NOT display Family Religion Sexual Partner to Wife Are NOT sexual partner Deci sion-Maker Equalitari an Deci sion-Maker Manages Family Income Manage Family Income Advances Family in Community Advance Family in Community Complain about Spouse Few violent acts Few extra-marital acts Display Jealousy Leave Spouse Argue with Spouse

The realism of the television wives' role behaviors can be likewise

investigated. Middle-class wives help earn the living when her husband needs her help or when the family needs more money. They accept the job of breadwinner temporarily in cases of illness or husband's incapacitation.

Such was not the case with television wives. There were portrayals of working wives, but in none was it apparent that she had to work to assist her husband. Divorced or widowed females were, of course, working because they needed to. Television wives who were working were doing so because they wanted to and not because of extenuating circumstances. There were also no indications that any of the working wives wanted to become the primary breadwinner of the family.

Middle-class wives also display the family religion, giving the chil- 132

dren an understanding of the family's religious identification. Tele­

vision wives do not display such acts.

Caring for the childrens' everyday needs includes the responsibility

for daily needs such as clothing, feeding, transportation, supervision of

play activities, etc. Television wives/mothers do likewise. However,

mother-child interaction on television is much less frequent than this

writer believes takes place in the real world. By omission of this inter­

action television does not emphasize the reality of parent-child inter­

action. The daily routines and often monotonous duties of motherhood are

often not televised. In this way, the wife/mother incumbents do not por­

tray a realistic total picture of the middle-class wife as homemaker.

The middle-class wife is also to be a sexual partner to her husband

giving as well as gaining sexual satisfaction with him. She is not inter­

ested in sexual relations with other men, nor does she use the sexual

relationship to manipulate her husband. She desires to hold her husband's sexual interest. All of the television wives displayed behaviors consonant with these expectations. However, as was true for television husbands, a small minority of television wives also displayed extra-marital affairs

limited to kissing with implied further sexual involvements. Television wives depicted no more sexual involvement than kissing even with their hus­ bands. A corollary of this set of expectations, middle-class wives as well as television wives displayed an interest in having children with her husband. Television wives are in agreement with and supportive of the middle-class wives' desire for children.

Serving as a model of women for the children entails being also a 133

model of what a wife and mother is to be. She is well organized, refrain­

ing from deviant behavior such as alcoholism, criminality, etc. She ac­

cepts a limited range of extra-familial duties and responsibilities, be­

lieving it to be more important to spend most of her time within the family

unit. Also she believes it to be more desirable to be married and rear a

family than not. Television wives display acts consonant with these

expectations.

Middle-class wives are to help the children grow by being their friend,

teacher, and guide by participating in their world, by spending leisure-

time together, assisting with school work, etc. Also they are to use pun­ ishment understandingly, refraining from abuse and ridicule of the children.

Television mothers display verbal and physical affection to their children, display concern, recreate with their children, comfort and assist them, as well as discussing with their children a wide range of items. Television mothers generally discipline in accordance with middle-class expectations.

There were three violent acts perpetrated by television mothers toward their children; but, again, the definition of violence is quite broad so as to include spankings, slaps, and threats of corporal punishment.

Middle-class husbands have a companion in their wife. She shares her activities, free time, and thoughts with him. She demonstrates an interest in his occupation, his problems, etc. Abuse and ridicule of her husband are atypical of middle-class wives. Television wives behave in similar fashion. They express concern for their husbands, they display verbal and physical affection, and they joke and tease their spouse. Although tele­ vision wives also complain about their husbands, they, too, apologize for 134

these statements. They also refrain from abuse and ridicule.

Television wives display concern for the management of the fami 1 y in-

come and finances. These behaviors are expected according to the Hurvitz

sample.

Finally, the middle-class wife decides when the family is still di­

vided after discussing something. Although this sounds identical to the

role behavior of middle-class husbands, and how can there be two final

decision-makers, Hurvitz notes that the middle-class wife "...is recognized,

acknowledged, and deferred to by her husband and children as the decision­

maker about family affairs" (1971:178). Television wives are portrayed as

being equal to their husband in making decisions. However, the role set

of Hurvitz's sample is almost identical (with the use of "deferred" in­

stead of "referred") to that of the middle-class husband, though this writer has reservations as to the accuracy of the clerical reporting of

the findings (the substitution of an "r" makes the reading identical to

that of the husband). Nevertheless, assuming no typographical errors, two answers are possible. On the one hand, the middle-class wife may actually be the decision-maker in the family, or the husband and wife have their own areas of decision-making with the family decisions falling within the wife's domain of responsibility. As noted previously, television families decide issues in an equalitarian manner. Wives as well as husbands have an equal voice on television. Each make decisions for and which affect the other spouse. 135

Table 7

Middle-class wives' role behaviors as compared to television wives' role behaviors

MIDDLE-CLASS WIVES TELEVISION WIVES

Help Earn Living if Needed Work because they want to Display Family Religion Do NOT Display Family Religion Care for Children's Routine needs Infrequently care for Children's Routine needs Do household chores Infrequently do household chores Sexual Partner to Husband Are NOT Sexual Partners Desire Children Desire Children Model of Women for Children Model of Women for Children Assist Development of Children Assist Development of Children Companion to Husband Companion to Husband Assist in managing Family Income Assist in managing Family Income Deci sion-Maker Decision-Maker Complain about Husband Display few Violent acts Display few Extra-marital acts Display Jealousy Leave Spouse * Argue with Spouse

As was true for television husbands, television wives display role behaviors that are generally consonant with middle-class expectations.

With the noted exceptions, television wives are behaving according to middle-class norms.

In summarizing the impact of televised role behaviors, it is vital to reiterate that although the television programs sampled are fictional in nature, their content may be perceived to be real by many viewers. This is emphasized by the similarity of role behaviors as evidenced by the

Hurvitz middle-class sample's role behaviors and those of the television husbands and wives. Marital and familial role behaviors on television appear to have a basis in reality; isomorphy between television and reality 136

exists. The importance of this agreement of the role behaviors for the

viewer as well as society remains, as yet, unresearched.

As noted in figure 6, content analyses deal primarily with com­

munication "messages". The messages of interest in this project were

marital and familial roles as depicted by television. Furthermore, it

has been postulated that a television viewer can acquire and adopt be­

haviors portrayed in television "messages" even though one may think he is only being entertained.

The subject-matter (marital and familial interaction) on television contains several "messages" of which specific role behaviors are only one aspect. Other messages concern the general themes or topics of the pro­ grams relevant to the institution of marriage and family. The broadcast themes surrounding the institution of marriage and family were supportive of and consistent with social expectations. At the societal level, the themes emphasized the preference of being married, and the conjugal, neo- local, and equalitarian nature of the marital unit. The unit should con­ tain a division of labor with the husband being the primary breadwinner and the wife restricted to the home. The programs did not present themes such as abortion, prostitution, revolutionary sexual mores, racial mis- cegination, etc. which would be in direct contradiction to society's norms.

The programs were generally traditional and conservative. Only on rare occasions were "radical" themes or topics presented. An example would be artifical insemination.

For the individual viewing the programs, television may, in addition to being a socialization agent, be perceived as an advisor or counselor 137

giving solutions to marital problems. The marital roles portrayed em­

phasized affection between the spouses, companionship, parental joy with

children, harmony, the absence of conflict, and the lack of problems for

those people who are happily married. Such televised role behaviors serve

not only an anticipatory socializing function, but may offer suggestions

for remedial action in one's own marriage.

As evidenced by the comparison of the behaviors of television spouses

with those behaviors of a middle-class sample (Hurvitz, 1971), many marital

and familial role behaviors on television have a counterpart in reality.

Although the actors are fictional, viewers may be able to identify with

them because of the realism of the behaviors televised. Occupants of the

marital and familial statuses-roles on television display middle-class

marital behaviors in that they are companions to each other as well as

models of behaviors for their children. Television spouses assist, comfort,

and display affection for one another. The husband is the primary bread­

winner; the wife's place is in the home. Husbands and wives on television

want and enjoy children.

There were, of course, omissions in the television fare that are

typical of middle-class spouses. Included here would be displays of sexual

affection or relations, household chores, and family religious activities.

Television spouses displayed behaviors not mentioned by the middle- class sample. Examples would include some extra-marital activities, com­

plaints about spouse, acts of violence against children, jealousy, etc.

Infrequent though they were, they were nevertheless broadcast. It is safe

to assume that to many television viewers, such behaviors are not atypical. 138

Such was the nature of marital and familial interaction in a week's

sample of television programs. Other researchers may utilize the above

materials in both their teaching and research endeavors. These television

"messages" may serve a generating function for many research possibilities.

Some are outlined in the next chapter.

The Summary

Since comparatively little is known about the content of television

as well as its effects, this is an important area of concern for all social

scientists. Sociologists have a wide variety of interesting areas for

potential research in this medium. The area of interest for this writer

was television's depictions of marital and familial life. Television hus­

bands and wives portray certain themes and display certain behaviors. Yet

little specifically is known about these items. This research project in­

vestigated such presentations on television.

The theoretical basis of this investigation was a combination of the functional and the cultural norms theory of mass communication. Succinctly,

the functional theory explains the pervasiveness and ubiquity of the mass media as being indicative of the functions or consequences they have for society. Mass media assist in perpetuating and maintaining the on-going society through the functions of surveillance, correlation, cultural trans­ mission, status conferral, and others. Also the media provide a respite for the masses, i.e., an entertainment function. All of these preceding functions, as well as those not again reviewed here, could be categorized under the general function of socio-cultural integration. All of these 139

work together in a combination of ways to keep society going.

The cultural norms theory explains that the user of mass media may

"learn" by having social phenomena "defined" for him in certain structured

ways. In this way the media influence conduct by providing a "definition

of the situation" which the user may believe to be real. The cultural

norms theory postulates that the media can influence norms and definitions

of the situation for the viewer by (1) reinforcing existing patterns of

behaviors, (2) creating new shared convictions on those topics with which

the user has had little experience, and (3) changing existing norms there­

by converting people's behavior patterns to another form.

For the purposes of this investigation, television, a very extensive

medium in American society, was assumed to have the same functions as the

other media. It was further assumed that television has an entertainment

function (as do other media). This function coupled that of cultural

transmission provides the basis of the assumption that television's enter­

tainment function includes the transmission of cultural content; the viewer while being entertained is being exposed to cultural aspects such as norms, mores, values, etc.

The presentation of the cultural materials in those programs created ostensibly for entertainment defines the situation in certain ways. The themes or topics emitted or omitted, the portrayed interactions, the socio­ economic statuses of the actors, the television settings, vocal tones, lighting tones, and many others all affect the definition of the situation as broadcast by television. Here, also, the postulates of the cultural norms theory are important. The broadcast materials may be perceived by 140

the viewer as real; not only may the viewer acquire these definitions, he

may also adopt them as guidelines or models for his own behavior. In other words, the viewer's behavior may be influenced by exposure to

televi sion.

The three postulates of the cultural norms theory emphasize that a mass medium (television) may "teach" the viewer by providing a definition of a situation for the user. This assumption could be reformulated in more "functional" terminology by indicating that providing a definition of the situation is in itself a function, an educational or socialization function. By teaching, educating, or socializing the viewer, television assists in maintaining the on-going society. The cultural norms theory, therefore, also explains why television is so pervasive in our society.

It is being used not only as a source of entertainment but also as a

"definer" of the real world. In this way, postulates of both the func­ tional and cultural norms theories may be linked in investigating the content, the uses, and the effects of television for the American society.

This research project developed an instrument to ascertain both the vari­ ous acts being portrayed on television as well as means by which these could be enumerated. The major networks were compared on the basis of prevalence, the subject-matter score, the program score, the rates per program, per exclusive minute, and rate per recording unit. Also one can compare types of program, specific programs and even times of day by using these indicators. Furthermore, these indicators are amenable for appli­ cation to other topics of interest such as television violence.

Television's material and familial role behaviors indicate that all 141

IS generally fine with the institution of marriage and family in American

society. Marital and family settings on television are conflict free with

husbands and wives enjoying each other as well as their children. Both spouses display affections (verbally and physically) for each other and their children. The presence of children creates no major problems for the couple. Children are active participants in the family, exemplifying the absence of repression on the part of the parent.

The presentations of marital and family roles on television are par­ ticularly realistic in that they coincide with the many items on a middle- class inventory of such behavior. Husbands and wives in real life as well as on television are companions to each other. Both serve as exemplary models for their children. An equalitarianism exists with the both spouses being involved in making decisions. Extra-marital affairs are rare.

There are areas of differences. Television spouses do not display sexual relationships or religious practices. Middle-class spouses do not complain about their husband or wife; television spouses do. Absent also from tele­ vision are portrayals of routine household chores on the part of husbands and wives. It is assumed that television viewers can acquire and adopt these behaviors for use in their own lives. By omitting or emitting certain materials, this medium of mass comnunication can "define the institution of marriage and family" in a particular way. This definition may support present patterns, alter them or inject new ones. Regardless of the way television presents the institution, this definition has functions for the viewer as both a conjugal family member as well as a member of a mass audience who has been exposed repetitively to the same stimuli. 142

Important to the continuation of any society is a core of norms, values, mores, etc., that support and are exemplified in social institutions.

Television functions as a definer, supporter and behavior model of the marital and familial expectations composing the institution of marriage and family. 143

CHAPTER VI. THE SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Future research into the effect of television marital and family role

behaviors will no doubt test which of these the viewers acquire and accept.

The following discussion presents specific theoretical assumptions and

subsequently derived hypotheses. In addition, methodological modifications and suggestions are made which could increase the generalizability of research conclusions.

The following summarize the basic assumptions utilized in this project.

1. Social and cultural materials are provided by entertainment programs on television

2. Television viewers acquire and adopt social and cultural materials presented on television

3. Television viewers acquire and adopt social and cultural materials presented in entertainment programs

4. Television may define the situation for the viewer

5. Television defines the situation by reinforcing existing patterns

6. Television defines the situation by creating new shared convictions

7. Television defines the situation by changing existing norms

8. Television serves as a behavioral model

The Hypotheses for Future Research

The focus of this investigation was on the messages or content of a sample of television programs that portrayed contemporary marital and familial interaction. Of primary concern were those "messages" that dis- m

played various husband-father and wife-mother status-role behaviors. The

nature of these behaviors was previously discussed. However, it is not

possible at this time to state with any certainty what effects these dis­

played role behaviors have for television viewers. The marital and fa­ milial role behaviors displayed on television have been discerned, but their effect or impact on the viewer remains uncertain. This has yet to be tested. An empirical test requires hypotheses, theoretical statements whose validity and truth in the real world have not been tested. The following hypotheses are some that could be empirically tested; the re­ search design for such endeavors has yet to be formulated. These hypoth­ eses are arbitrarily restricted to the acquisition and adoption of the role behaviors displayed by the incumbents of the husband-father and wife- mother statuses-roles on television. These hypotheses were generated from the discussion in which the television spouses' behaviors were compared to those of the middle-class sample's behaviors.

Three propositions are listed which serve to indicate the relation­ ships and linkages between the independent and dependent variables. From these, hypotheses have been generated.

PROPOSITION I; People who watch television acquire and adopt televised status-role behaviors or expectations.

HYPOTHESES;

1. If people watch television, then they will acquire more marital and familial role behaviors than non-viewers.

2. If people watch dramatic programs primarily, then they will acquire more marital and familial role behaviors than those people who view non-dramatic programs primarily. 145

3. Television viewers more than non-viewers prefer marriage as opposed to being single.

4. Television viewers more than non-viewers display middle- class marital and familial behavior patterns.

5. Lower-class television viewers display more middle-class marital and familial role behaviors than lower-class non-viewers.

6. If a lower-class viewer is upwardly mobile then he will display middle-class marital and familial role behaviors.

7. If a lower-class viewer is upwardly mobile, then he will be equalitarian in family decision-making.

8. If a middle-class wife watches serials avidly, then she will not expect her husband to do her household work.

9. If a middle-class wife watches serials avidly, then she will not expect her husband to do the household jobs.

10. If a middle-class husband watches serials avidly, then he will feel less guilty about having an extra-marital affair.

11. If a middle-class husband watches serials avidly, then he will argue more openly with spouse.

12. If a middle-class wife watches serials avidly, then she will be less likely to feel the need to do household chores.

13. Middle-class wives who watch serials avidly are more likely to feel they have a right to work if they want to.

14. Middle-class wives who watch serials avidly are less likely to favor the liberalization of abortion laws than non-viewers.

15. Lower-class wives who watch serials avidly are more 1ikely to feel they have a voi ce i n fami 1 y money management.

16. Middle-class women who view serials avidly are more likely to desire children than non-viewers. 146

17. Middle-class women who view serials avidly are more likely to use verbal rather than physical punishment on the children.

PROPOSITION II; Married people who are having marital and familial prob­

lems and who want to save their marriage adopt marital and familial role

behaviors portrayed on television.

HYPOTHESES;

1. If a middle-class husband watches serials on television, he will be more of a companion to his wife.

2. A couple having financial management problems will allow the husband to manage the money.

3. Equalitarian decision-making will be adopted by troubled couples who watch television.

4. Husbands who watch serials will more likely apologize to their spouse than husbands who do not watch television.

5. Husbands (wives) who watch serials will display more concern and affection to the wives (husbands) than hus­ bands (wives) who do not watch television.

6. Husbands (wives) who watch serials will discuss more with their wives (husbands) than husbands (wives) who do not watch television.

7. Fathers (mothers) who watch serials will do more rec­ reational things with their children than fathers (mothers) who do not watch.

PROPOSITION III; Children who watch television will acquire and adopt middle-class marital and familial role behaviors or expectations.

HYPOTHESES;

1. Children who watch light situation comedies will feel more equalitarian toward their potential spouse than those who do not watch.

2. Boys who watch light situation comedies will feel their future spouse's place is in the home more than non- viewing boys. 147

3. Girls who watch light situation comedies will feel the mother's place is in the home more than non-viewers.

4. Girls who watch light situation comedies will feel they as wives have a right to work more than girls who are non-viewers.

5. Boys who watch light situation comedies will display more affection to their future spouses than non-viewing boys.

6. Boys who watch light situation comedies will indicate that they, too, have disciplinary obligations to their children more than will non-viewing boys.

7. Girls who watch light situation comedies will rank house work as less important in marital happiness than non-viewing girls.

8. Children with parental conflict and who watch light situation comedies will display less marital maladjust­ ment in their own marriages than will non-viewers with the conflict filled home life.

9. Children who watch light situation comedies are more likely to prefer marriage than those who do not watch.

The preceding hypotheses presently lack operational definitions.

The primary reason for this is the unavailability of instruments capable of measuring newly acquired behaviors which are subsequently accepted or adopted as behavioral models. Yet attempts to measure these behaviors must be made.

By showing that two (or more) items vary together provides some support for the conclusion that one is related to the other. A relation­ ship between televised violence and subsequent aggressive behavior in­ dicates that one may be positively related to the other; an increase in one is accompanied by an increase in the other. One could likewise use correlations to investigate exposure to marital and familial behaviors ' 148

on television and subsequent marital behavior. However, some major prob­

lems exist.

Marital and familial behaviors take place in a closed setting. Out­

siders generally do not get the opportunity to view the inner workings of

a conjugal unit. Having a third party present would affect the reliability and validity of such a project. Regardless of such problems, one could

still investigate the effects of televised role behaviors by the use of a contrived laboratory task for married couples. By using two groups of married couples (one a control, the other the experimental), one could compare task performances. The control groups would not be exposed to televised behaviors. The experimental group could view a married couple who displayed a lot of cooperation, mutual decision-making, etc. A team of evaluators could view both groups' performances on a given task. In this way one could investigate the hypotheses that married couples who view equalitarian marital behaviors on television display more equali- tarian behaviors than non-viewers.

The above laboratory experiment would test only the immediate impact of television exposure. The effects of such an exposure may not be readily apparent for a variety of reasons: the task was not seen as realistic, the couples could not identify with the television couple, the laboratory setting was artificial, etc.

A longitudinal study (over time) might discern effects. If one as­ sumes that a given viewer's attitudes or behaviors may be gradually changed by repeated exposure to given stimuli, then one might hypoth­ esize that husbands and wives, who are avid television viewers, may be 149

slowly altering their marital behaviors. The initial task of such a

project would be to decide on one's universe of viewers and sample accord­

ingly. This sample could be asked a variety of questions about what pro­

grams they watch as well as attitudes on certain marital items reflecting

marital role expectations. These findings would serve as a baseline for

the results of a similar repeat of the instrument at a future time. Of

course, major problems associated with such a project would involve the

impact of unknown variables on the viewers over time. Marital role

changes may have been caused by other variables than just television

viewing. However, a significant difference between "Time 1" and "Time 2"

would be important.

If one assumes that television's marital and familial role behaviors are typically middle-class, one could investigate socio-economic class differences. Two lower socio-economic groups (as measured by a common criterion such as occupation) could be compared on marital role expecta­ tions; one would need avid television viewers. A researcher could hypothesize that lower-class viewers are more middle-class in marital role expectations than are lower-class non-viewers. A significant difference between the two groups would lend credence to the proposition that tele­ vision serves as a marital role model.

Some methodological changes ought to be considered. For example, rather than sampling by a week's programs, one might consider sampling the same programs over time. This technique would be suitable should one be interested in the impact of specific programs. Such a study would be worthwhile since viewers do deliberately choose to view some programs in 150

preference to others.

The question of how contemporary are televised marital and familial

acts would be interesting to explore. Have televised acts changed over

time or are television husbands and wives doing the same things today as

they did a decade ago? Such a study would no doubt require the assistance

of a television network especially in terms of getting video-types of

older television programs. Is television setting the pace or lagging

behi nd?

Restricted technical facilities were problems in this particular re­

search project. These problems (limited supply of tapes and only one

tape recorder) could be easily rectified with additional VTR's and a

large supply of video-tapes. The sampling of all programs (regardless of

scheduling conflicts) portraying the subject-matter could be accomplished.

This writer could only video-tape one network at a time. Also each tape

had to be quickly analyzed and the programs coded so that the tape was clear to record the next day's program. Storage of all the programs to

be analyzed was impossible. Problems of deciding which programs to be recorded (by flipping a coin or drawing a number) would also be eliminated by unrestricted equipment.

The use of the "act" in this project necessitated overlooking other items that could also be of great importance. One obvious omission was any enumeration of children's responses to the acts of their parents. No attempt was made to investigate whether or not the children obeyed, were in trouble, rebelled against their parents, etc. Also interactions by the incumbents with other people were not investigated. (They were counted 151

for purposes of determining rates, but nothing else was done with them.)

For example, how did the husband-father react to his child's teacher over a school problem? Was he upset with the teacher or the child? Answers are not discernible with the present instrument. However, such behaviors are important not only for the conjugal unit, but also for the institution of marriage and family as well.

Much more research needs to be done by all social scientists into the matters of not only television content but also the very important questions of the effects or impact of television content on its viewers.

Relatively little data presently exists. It is hoped that this project and its findings will serve as a basis for not only debate but also for future television analyses. 152

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THE APPENDIX A

Table I

Prevalence of subject-matter category by networks and days of week

DAYS CBS NBC ABC TOTAL

Saturday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19 18 18 55 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 3.5 0 0 3.5 % of Broadcast day 18 0 0 6.0

Sunday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 17.5. 17.5 18.25 53.25 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast .5 0 0 .5 % of Broadcast day 2 0 0 .9

Monday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19 19.25 17.5 55.75 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 5.5 6 1.5 13 % of Broadcast day 29 31 8 23

Tuesday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19 18.5 18 55.5 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 5 2 1.5 8.5 % of Broadcast day 26 10 8 15

Wednesday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19 18.25 18.5 55.75 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 4.5 2 3 9.50 % of Broadcast day 24 11 15 17

Thursday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19 18.5 17 54.5 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 4.5 2 1.5 8 % of Broadcast day 26 11 9 15

Friday Total Broadcast Hours (100%) 19.5 20 17 56.5 Subject Matter-Hours Broadcast 4.5 2.5 2.5 9.5 % of Broadcast day 23 12 15 17

Total Network Hours 132 130 124.25 Subject Matter- Total Broadcast 28 14.5 10 % of Broadcast Week 21 11 8

Total Broadcast Hours for Week of Analysis 386.25 Total Subject Matter Broadcast Hours 52.50 Percentage of Total Broadcast Week m Table 2 \ Subject-matter broadcast by networks and type of program in exclusive hours and minutesg

NETWORKS

CBS NBC ABC Total Tvoe of Proqram Hours Minutes Hours Mi nutes Hours Mi nutes Hours Minutes

Serials 7:17 437 3:02 182 1:06 66 10:25 685

Movies 1:29 89 1:28 88 1:06 66 4:01 241

Light Situation Comedi es 2:23 163 1:56 116 1:57 117 6:36 396

Studio Quiz 20 20

Prestige Drama 54 54

Total 11:29 689 6:26 386 5:23 323 23:18 1398

gContains no commercials, irrelevant "leads", "tails", or credits 167

Table 3

Sample programs by network and type

Proaram Title Network Type

Days of Our Lives NBC 18 All My Children ABC 18 Newly wed Game ABC 22 Owen Marshall ABC 10 Never Too Late CBS 38 Diary of a Mad Housewife NBC 38 The Thrill of It All ABC 38 The Paul Lynde Show ABC 11 The Brady Bunch ABC 11 The Partridge Family ABC 11 Bridget Loves Bernie CBS 11 The Bob Newhart Show CBS 11 Mayberry, RFD CBS 11 Maude. CBS 11 All in the Family CBS 11 Sanford and Son NBC 11 The New Dick Van Dyke Show CBS 11 Hazel CBS 11 The Love of Life CBS 18 Bewi tched ABC 11 The Dick Van Dyke Show NBC 11 The Secret Storm CBS 18 Search for Tomorrow CBS 18 The Doctors NBC 18 Where the Heart Is CBS 18 Another World NBC 18 The Edge of Night CBS 18 The Guiding Light CBS 18 As the World Turns CBS 18

Proqram Tvoes Type Number

Prestige Drama 10 Light Situation Comedy 11 Serials 18 Studio Quiz 22 Movies 38 168

Table 4

Analysis number of programs analyzed

Analysis Number Program

1 Days of Our Lives 2 All My Children 3 Newl ywed Game 4 Owen Marshall 5 Never Too Late 6 Diary of a Mad Housewife 7 The Thrill of It All 8 The Paul Lynde Show 9 The Brady Bunch 10 The Partridge Family 11 Bridget Loves Bernie 12 The Bob Newhart Show 13 Mayberry, RFD 14 Maude 15 All in the Family 16 Sanford and Son 17 The New Dick Van Dyke Show 18 Hazel 19 The Love of Life 20 Bewi tched 21 The Dick Van Dyke Show 22 The Secret Storm 23 Search for Tomorrow 24 The Doctors 25 Where the Heart Is 26 Another World 27 The Edge of Night 28 The Guiding Light 29 As the World Turns 169

Table 5

Calendar of day television programs analyzed by networks and analysis number: January 27 to February 2, 1973 . r ...... Date . Time of Day u d n n i b b n h e a a r e e o T W J F F J F 9 M 1 1 -H 2 e_ (/I C_ CO 1 2 Wg 5 01 c 3S5 # v> ®? ?

19 19 19 19 IP 11:30 AM 25 2? 25 25 25 12:00 Noon 21 23 23 23 23 12:30 PM ifi 18 18 18 18 lîOO PM 29 29 29 29 29 i,in PM 28 28 28 28 28 2:00 PM 27 27 27 27 2:30 PM i7 T-nn PM ?2 2? 22 22 22 PM 4,00 PM 6,in PM n 13 13 13 13 5:00 PM

11:10 AM 12:00 Noon 12:10 PM lîOO PM 1:30 PM 1 1 1 1 1 2:00 PM 96 2k 7lt 7U 7U 2-in PM 26 26 26 26 26 1:00 PM l!lO PM u.nn PM 4:10 PM 21 21 21 21 21 PM

20 20 20 20 20 11:10 AM 12:00 Moon 12,10 PM 2 2 2 2 2 I.nn PM 1:30 PM 3 2:00 PM 3 3 3 ? 2'in PM ?.nn PM 1:10 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM Table 6 . Calendar of evening programs. analyzed by networks and _ r ...... s . . . 2 u n d n n t n n n n e b b analysisi number: January 27 to February 2, 1973 _ h u a e a a a a u o a e e r . . . 9 T 9 S S J W J T J J M F F F J n 1 2 2 1 i 1 . , , * 17 7:30 PM 14 15 8:00 PM 11 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 12 9:30 PM 10:00 PM 10:10 PM 11:00 PM 11:30 PM 5 12:00 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 AM

16 7:30 PM 8:00 PM .8:10 PM 9:00 PM 9:10 PM 6 10:00 PM 10:10 PM 11:00 PM 11:10 PM 12:00 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 AM

. 7:30 PM 9 8 8:00 PM 10 8:30 PM 9:00 PM 9:30 PM 7 10:00 PM 4 10:30 PM 11:00 PM 11:30 PM 12:00 PM 12:30 AM 1:00 AM Table 7

Total number of scenes, marriage and family scenes, and marriage and family acts in the serials analyzed

Number Number of Marriage and Marriage and Marriage and Family of Program Ti tie Scenes Fami1 y Scenes Family Acts Scenes-Percentaae Programs

Days of Our Lives 47 9 21 19 3

The Doctors 10 6 29 60 2

As the World Turns 27 4 16 15 4

Another World 53 24 55 45 3

All My Children 21 3 7 14 3

Search for Tomorrow 70 16 71 23 5

The Secret Storm 43 8 34 19 5

Where the Heart Is 82 17 31 20 5

The Edge of Night 22 3 3 14 3

The Love of Life 49 11 13 22 3

The Guiding Light 8 3 9 38 1 Table 8

Total number of scenes , marriage and family scenes, and marriage and family acts in light situation comedies analyzed

Number Number of Marriage and Marriage and Marriage and Family of Title of Proqram Scenes Family Scenes Family Acts Scenes-Percentaae Proqrams

Sanfbrd and Son 23 10 17 43 1

Dick Van Dyke 107 17 46 16 3

New Dick Van Dyke 35 16 33 46 1

Paul Lynde Show 52 15 20 29 1

Bewi tched 79 26 49 33

The Brady Bunch 47 17 23 36 1

The Partridge Family 41 6 10 15 1

Bridget Loves Bernie 85 35 45 41 1

Hazel 76 39 37 51

The Bob Newhart Show 20 4 20 20 1

Maude 43 17 22 40 1

All in the Family 28 19 28 68 1

Mayberry, RFD 54 7 8 13 1 Table 9

Total number of scenes, marriage and family scenes, and marriage and family acts in the movies, studio quiz, and prestige drama analyzed

Number Number of Marriage and Marriage and Marriage and Family of Title of Program Scenes Fami1 y Scenes Fami1 y Acts Scenes-Percentage Programs

Movi es;

The Thrill of It All 97 28 72 28

The Diary of a Mad Housewi fe 95 49 69 51

Never Too Late 136 106 44 60 Va> Studio Quiz;

Newlywed Game 74 23 28 42

Prestige Drama:

Owen Marshall 57 8 Table 10

Program by program score(rate), network, and type of program

Program Title Proqram Score Network Type

Days of Our Lives 3.36 NBC 18 All My Children 2.83 ABC 18 Newiywed Game 3.63 ABC 22 Owen Marshall 2.67 ABC 10 Never Too Late 3.99 CBS 38 The Diary of A Mad Housewife 3.44 NBC 38 The Thrill of It All 4.74 ABC 38 The Paul Lynde Show 2.87 ABC 11 The Brady Bunch 3.05 ABC 11 The Partridge Family 2.47 ABC 11 Bridget Loves Bernie 4.19 CBS 11 The Bob Newhart Show 6.89 CBS 11 Mayberry, RFD 1.74 CBS 11 Maude 3.05 CBS 11 All in the Family 4.55 CBS 11 Sanford and Son 4.48 NBC 11 The New Dick Van Dyke 4.78 CBS 11 Hazel 2.95 CBS 11 The Love of Life 1.89 CBS 18 Bewi tched 4.23 ABC 11 The Dick Van Dyke Show 3.99 NBC 11 The Secret Storm 5.21 CBS 18 Search for Tomorrow 6.35 CBS 18 The Doctors 1.47 NBC 18 Where the Heart Is 2.82 CBS 18 Another World 4.70 NBC 18 The Edge of Night 1.25 CBS 18 The Guiding Light 4.95 CBS 18 As the World Turns 4.95 CBS 18 175

Table 11

The serials: Rate per program, rate per minute, rate per recording unitg

Rate per Rate per Rate per Recording Title of Program Program Mi nute Unit

The Days of Our Lives .45 .26 2.3

The Doctors 2.90 .64 4.8

As the World Turns .59 .20 4.0

Another World 1.04 .92 2.29

All My Children .33 .10 2.29

Search for Tomorrow 1.01 .67 2.33

The Secret Storm .70 .34 4.44

Where the Heart Is .37 .38 4.25

The Edge of Night .14 .05 4.42

The Love of Life .27 .22 1.18

The Guiding Light 1.12 .14 3.00

^Interprétation of Rates;

Rate per Program - Number of Marriage and Family Acts Divided by Total Number of Scenes

Rate per Minute - Number of Marriage and Family Acts Divided by Total Number of Exclusive Minutes (No commercials, credits, leads, tails)

Rate per Recording Unit - Number of Marriage and Family Acts Divided by Number of Marriage and Family Scenes 176

Table 12

The light situation comedies;

Rate per program, rate per minute, and rate per recording unit

Rate per Rate per Rate per Recordi Title of Program Program Mi nute Uni t

The Paul Lynde Show .38 .87 1.33

All in the Family 1.00 1.40 1.47

The Partridge Family 2.40 .42 1.66

The Bob Newhart Show 1.00 .87 5.00

Maude .51 .85 1.29

The Brady Bunch .49 .85 1.35

Sanford and Son .74 .65 1.70

Hazel .49 .65 1.28

Bridget Loves Bernie .53 1.97 1.29

Bewitched .62 1.14 1.36

The Dick Van Dyke Show .43 .70 2.70

Mayberry, RFD .15 .32 1.43

The New Dick Van Dyke Show .94 1.32 2.06 177

Table 13

The movies, the prestige drama, and the studio quiz: Rate per program, rate per minute, and rate per recording unit

Rate per Rate per Rate per Recording Title of Program Program Mi nute Unit

Movi es:

The Thrill of It All .74 1.13 2.57

The Diary of a Mad Housewife .73 .78 1.41

Never Too Late .78 1.19 1.77

Prestige Drama:

Owen Marshall .19 .20 2.20

Studio Quiz:

Newlywed Game .42 1.55 1.35 178

Table 14

Frequencies of marital and familial acts in recording unit per program: Interaction between spouses, father with son and daughter, mother with son and daughter

Interaction Between Father/ Father/ Mother/ Mother/ title of Proaram Type Soouses Son Dauohter Son Oauqh

The New Dick Van Dyke 11 2.20 1.38 2.33 The Dick Van Dyke Show 11 2.55 The Love of Life 18 1.50 1.00 Hazel 11 1.38 1.44 1.66 Sanford and Son 11 1.70 AIJ in the Family 11 1.71 1.00 1.00 Maude 11 1.42 1.00 1.00 Hayberry, RFD 11 1.14 The Bob Newhart Show 11 5.00 All My Children 18 2.33 The Days of Our Lives 18 1.20 4.33 As the World Turns 18 5.50 2.50 The Guiding Light 18 1.50 6.00 The Edge of Night 18 1.00 Another World 18 2.22 2.40 4.50 1.66 2.00 Where the Heart Is 18 2.00 1.00 3.00 1.00 The Doctors 18 5.25 5.00 Search for Tomorrow 18 5.23 1.00 1.00 1.00 The Secret Storm 18 4.80 3.00 Bewitched 11 1.74 1.50 1.50 1.50 Bridget Loves Bernie 11 1.32 1.50 1.20 1.00 1.00 The Partridge Family 11 1.66 The Brady Bunch 11 2.40 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.33 The Paul Lynde Show 11 1.45 1.00 The Thrill of It All 38 6.44 1.66 1.50 1.50 1.00 Diary of a Mad Housewife38 2.13 1.16 2.00 Never Too Late 38 2.10 1.16 1.60 Owen Marsha 11 10 1.0D 3.00 2.00 Newlywed Game 22 1.35 179

Table 15

Frequency of marriage and family acts by network; CBS programs (N=35)

Rate of Marriage and Acts Portrayed Frequency Family Acts

Concern 26 .74 Interest in Activities 2 .05 Display of Verbal Affection 111 3.20 Display of Physical Affection 99 2.80 Doing Household Chores 4 .11 Displays Concern/Financial Matters 7 .20 Disciplines Children 21 .60 Care of Children: Illness 1 .02 Recreational Activities with Family 9 .25 Initiates Arguments 22 .62 Joking, Teasing 6 .17 Display of Religious Practices Teaching Sex Education 2 .05 Displays Violence Complaints about Husband 10 .28 Complaints about Wife 14 .40 Complaints about Children 10 .28 Apologies 9 .25 Compliments Spouse 2 .05 Compliments Children 3 .08 Assi sts Spouse 6 .17 Assists Children 4 .11 Discussion 58 1.66 Comforts Spouse/Chi1dren 3 .08 Forgiveness; Extra-marital Discuss Extra-marital Affairs Accuses Spouse of Extra-marital Affair Leaves Spouse 3 .08 Returns to Spouse Throws Ex-Spouse Out Purchases Gift 1 .02 Displays of Jealousy 5 .14 Stays up Waiting for Spouse Advises Spouse on Business Affairs 1 .02 Coaxes Spouse 2 .05 Display of Extra-marital Acts 180

Table 16

Frequency of marriage and family acts by network; NBC programs (N=14)

Rate of Marriage and Acts Portrayed Frequency Family Acts

Concern 15 1.07 Interest in Activities 1 .07 Display of Verbal Affection 42 3.19 Display of Physical Affection 36 3.07 Doing Household Chores 3 .21 Displays Concern/Financial Matters 3 .21 Disciplines Children 18 1.21 Care of Children; Illness 3 .28 Recreation Activities with Family 4 .28 Initiates Arguments 6 .42 Display of Religious Practices Joking, Teasing 3 .21 Teaching Sex Education 1 .07 Displays Violence 3 .21 Complaints about Husband 15 1.07 Complaints about Wife 12 .85 Complaints about Children Apologies 4 .28 Compliments Spouse 3 .21 Compliments Children Assists Spouse Assists Children Comforts Spouse/Chi1dren Discussion 34 2.42 Forgiveness: Extra-marital 1 .07 Discuss Extra-marital Affairs 3 .21 Accuses Spouse of Extra-marital Affair 2 .14 Leaves Spouse Returns to Spouse 1 .07 Throws Ex-Spouse Out 1 .07 Displays of Jealousy 2 .14 Stays up Waiting for Spouse 1 .07 Advises Spouse on Business Affairs Coaxes Spouse Refuses Physical Contact with Spouse 2 .14 181

Table 17

Frequency of marriage and family acts by network; ABC programs (N=10)

Rate of Marriage and Acts Portrayed Frequency Family Acts

Concern 3 .30 Interest in Activities Display of Verbal Affection 38 2.30 Display of Physical Affection 53 3.10 Doing Household Chores Displays Concern/Financial Matters 7 .70 Disciplines Children 11 1.10 Care of Children: Illness Recreation Activities with Family 1 .10 Initiates Arguments 18 1.80 Display of Religious Practices Joking, Teasing 12 1.20 Teaching Sex Education 3 .30 Displays Violence Complaints about Husband 1 .10 Complaints about Wife 5 .50 Complaints about Children 2 .20 Apologies 1 .10 Compliments Spouse 2 .20 Compliments Children 3 .30 Assists Spouse Assists Children 1 .10 Comforts Spouse/Chi 1 dren Di scussion 29 2.90 Forgiveness: Extra-marital Discuss Extra-marital Affairs Accuses Spouse of Extra-marital Affair Leaves Spouse 2 .20 Returns to Spouse 1 .10 Throws Ex-Spouse Out Displays of Jealousy 1 .10 Stays up Waiting for Spouse Advises Spouse on Business Affairs Coaxes Spouse Refuses Physical Contact with Spouse 182

Table 18

Frequencies of marital and familial acts; Totals of all programs analyzed

0 4->O 1_ •P 1_ T3 0) 0 T> 0) o C 14- 4J C u C L. 4-» U c »_ (D "r- m (U o 0) JC 0) o U X S3 3: a J: 00 s: at 00 X cn M w- w 4-» -W 3 •p 4J 3 3 O •1- 3 (D O 10 (D o O 0 lu Acts Portrayed X +* 3 X Lu li. O z: •M z: o

Concern 12 12 7 3 5 4 Interest In Activities 1 1 1 Display of Verbal Affection 80 78 3 8 9 6 Display of Physical Affection 81 63 9 9 13 11 Doing Household Chores 1 2 2 2 Displays Concern/Financial 7 5 1 1 Disciplines Children 13 16 4 14 Care of Children: Illness 1 1 1 1 Recreational Activities 6 2 2 1 4 3 Initiates Arguments 23 22 1 Displays Religious Practices Joking, Teasing 7 8 4 1 1 Teaching Sex Education 1 3 1 Displays Violence 2 1 2 Complaints about Spouse 49 26 Complaints about Children 2 3 Apologies 6 7 1 Compliments 2 1 1 1 1 Assi sts 5 1 4 1 1 2 Comforts 2 1 4 Di scussion 61 29 12 5 5 8 Forgiveness; Extra-marital 1 Discussion: Extra-marital 1 3 Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affair 1 1 Leaves Spouse 2 2 Purchases Gifts 1 Displays Jealousy 2 6 Complaints about In-laws 4 2 3 1 Waits up for Spouse 1 Coaxes Spouse 2 Complaints about Son 4 Advises Spouse/Business 1 Returns to Spouse 1 Refuses Physical Contact 2 183

Table 19

Frequencies of marital and familial acts: Totals from soap operas

o 0 •P L. •P 1_ •o « 0 TJ a> C 1_ c l_ 4J c 1_ 4-» (D •»— <0 0) o 0) £ 0) o « J: •a 3 O Xi JZ CO jz cn CO -c at in M- M 4-» 4J 3 4-> •P 3 3 0 •r- 3 (0 o (0 (D o O o m Acts Portrayed u. •M u- a 4-> 3 3: . z. . ,

Concern 7 6 3 3 2 2 Interest In Activities 10 Display of Verbal Affection 34 27 3 5 4 9 Display of Physical Affection 30 11 2 2 .6 8 Doing Household Chores 1 2 2 Displays Concern/Financial Disciplines Children 3 1 I Care of Children; Illness 10 1 Recreational Activities 2 2 3 Initiates Arguments 7 a 1 Displays Religious Practices Joking, Teasing 1 I Teaching Sex Education Displays Violence Complaints about Spouse 1 5 Complaints about Children Apologies 5 4 Compliments 1 1 1 1 Assi sts 1 Comforts 2 Discussion 16 12 3 3 6 Forgiveness; Extra-marital 1 Discussion: Extra-marital 1 Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affair 1 Leaves Spouse 1 1 Purchases Gifts Displays Jealousy Complaints about In-laws 1 Wai ts up for Spouse Coaxes Spouse Complaints about Son Advises Spouse/Business Returns to Spouse 1 3 Refuses Physical Contact 2 184

Table 20

Frequencies of marital and familial acts: Totals light situation comedies

4->0 1_ 4->o U 73 O O TJ 4) 0) U c l_ 4-» QC 14-«p- C OU ÇO 0) s: D o 0) X ^ 3 ^ -Û ^00 ^ o> JZ CO ^ D) •P 3 4J 3 (D (Q 0 0 o m Acts. Portrayed j.8 '5 x u? -8 U. Q z +> z: a

Concern 2 6 1 2 Interest In Activities 1 1 Display of Verbal Affection 29 24 3 4 Display of Physical Affection 31 18 3 3 3 1 Doing Household Chores 1 Displays Concern/Financial 12 11 Disciplines Children 10 5 1 5 Care of Children; Illness Recreational Activities 2 3 Initiates Arguments 3 7 Displays Religious Practices Joking, Teasing 6 5 4 1 1 Teaching Sex Education 3 1 Displays Violence 2 1 Complaints about Spouse 12 11 Complaints about Children 1 Apologies 1 • 1 Compliments 2 6 1 Assists 2 14 1 Comforts Discussion 27 10 9 10 3 2 Forgiveness: Extra-marital Discussion; Extra-marital 2 Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affair Leaves Spouse 1 Purchases Gifts Displays Jealousy 2 6 Complaints about In-laws 4 13 1 Waits up for Spouse ' 1 Coaxes Spouse 2 Complaints about Son 4 Advises Spouse/Business 1 Returns to Spouse Refuses Physical Contact 185

Table 21

Frequencies of marital and familial acts: Movies

o o •M l_ •p l_ TQ 0) o -a SiM ? U- M 4-> •P 3 •p 4-» 3 3 0 3 (D o (Q (0 o o O U. O z •p Z Q

Concern 5 2 1 Interest In Activities Display of Verbal Affection 14 2$ 12 Display of Physical Affection 18 21 2 4 4 Doing Household Chores 1 Displays Concern/Financial 6 3 Disciplines Children 2 8 2 8 Care of Children; Illness 1 1 Recreational Activities 3 Initiates Arguments 5 6 Displays Religious Practices Joking Teasing 1 1 Teaching Sex Education 1 Displays Violence 1 2 Complaints about Spouse 22 11 Complaints about Children 1 Apologies 4 1 Compliments 1 Assi sts 2 1 Comforts Discussion 18 7 Forgiveness; Extra-marital Discussion; Extra-marital Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affair Leaves Spouse 1 Purchases Gifts Displays Jealousy Complaints about In-laws Waits up for Spouse Coaxes Spouse Complaints about Son Advises Spouse/Business Returns to Spouse Refuses Physical Contact "Throws" Spouse Out 1 186

Table 22

Frequencies of marital and familial acts; Studio quiz

•puo o xi fl) o t3 o o c«- -PC uc 1.+J j_c i_ p nj.i- <0 0)0 (do o j: J)(rt 3 it-mO X) J:+j CO -C4j3+> cn ^ oo 4-»3ai , 30 'I- 3 (DO ID m o o oro Acts Portrayed xp 3x lx.4-> u. o s-p zo

Concern Interest In Activities Display of Verbal Affection 1 Display of Physical Affection 7 8 Doing Household Chores Displays Concern/Financial Disciplines Children Care of Children: Illness Recreational Activities Initiates Arguments Displays Religious Practices Joking, Teasing Teaching Sex Education Displays Violence Complaints about Spouse 5 7 Complaints about Children Apologies Compliments Assi sts Comforts Di scussion Forgiveness; Extra-marital Discussion; Extra-marital Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affair Leaves Spouse Purchases Gifts Displays Jealousy Complaints about In-laws Waits up for Spouse Coaxes Spouse Complaints about Son Advises Spouse/Business Returns to Spouse Refuses Physical Contact 187

Table 23

Frequencies of marital and familial acts: Prestige drama

0 o L. •P 1_ •o Q) 0 TJ o V c w- 4J C c u -w 1- c *_ (0 "r- m 0) o a) J: o (U J= -Q ZI +J 4-> 3 -(-> 3 3 O •r- 3 (0 o (D (D o o o m Acts Portrayed X 3 X u. U. O z 4-> z a

Concern Interest In Activities Display of Verbal Affection Display of Physical Affection Doing Household Chores Displays Concern/Financial Disciplines Children Care of Children: Illness Recreational Activities Initiates Arguments Displays Religious Practices Joking, Teasing Teaching Sex Education Displays Violence Complaints about Spouse Complaints about Children Apologies Compliments Assists Comforts Di scussion Forgiveness: Extra-marital Discussion; Extra-marital Accuses Spouse of Extra­ marital Affairs Leaves Spouse Purchases Gifts Displays Jealousy Complaints about In-laws Waits up for Spouse Coaxes Spouse Complaints about Son Advises Spouse/Business Returns to Spouse Refuses Physical Contact 188

Table 24

Classification of television programs by type and numberg, b

Classification Number Program Type

1 Concert Music (Symphonies) 2 Musical Format Musical Variety 3 Orchestral 4 Comedy Variety (Featured Comedian) 5 Vaudevilie 6 Variety Format Semi-variety (music + comic spots) 7 Talent Contest 8 Hillbilly Variety 9 Low-budget Variety (Emcee + interviews) 10 Prestige Drama (One hour or more) 11 Light, Situation Comedy drama 12 Informative Drama (Historical settings) 13 Adventure Drama (Foreign lands) 14 Dramatic Format Detective/Crime 15 Psychological Drama 16 Western Drama 17 Adventure Serials 18 Daytime Serials 19 Children's Drama 20 Interview Programs 21 Sympathy Arousing 22 Human Interest Studio Quiz 23 Telephone Q.uiz 24 Stunt (Audience participation) 25 Teenage Dance 26 Panel Q,uiz 27 Talk Entertain- Dialogue 28 ment Children's Story-Telling 29 News and Commentary 30 Sports News 31 Talk Information Religious Talk 32 Informative (Farm news) 33 Public Affairs 34 Documentary 35 Sports Specials 36 Visual Format Actuality Broadcasts (Political conventions) 37 Travel or Documentary 38 Movie Format Movies aClassification according to Charles Connolly, Telecommunicative Arts Department, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa bUnderlined Numbers and Types Composed the Sample Types 189

THE APPENDIX B

The three networks and program types were compared by rates to dis­

cern which presented the most marital and familial materials per program,

exclusive minute, and recording unit. Specific programs were likewise

analyzed. Also included in the analyses are the subject-matter and program

scores, both overall or general indicators. These are discussed first in

Appendix B followed by the specific indicators comparing programs as well

as networks.

Overall Indicators; Comparisons Between Networks and Program Types

There are two overall indicators that need to be reviewed so that comparisons at a general level can be made. These two indicators are the subject-matter score and the program score. The subject-matter score re­ fers to the percentage of all the scenes in the sample programs that con­ tained the subject-matter contemporary marital and familial action in a conjugal setting. Overall, CBS had a slightly higher subject-matter score than did NBC. However, these were so close that it is not conclusive that

CBS programs definitely contain more of the subject-matter than NBC. ABC was third in the percentage of all its scenes that contained the subject- matter.

In terms of program types, there were three main types of programs analyzed. (Presently excluding Studio Quiz shows and Prestige Drama.)

Looking at the subject-matter scores by program type, of these three, the

"Movies" had the highest subject-matter score followed by the "light sit­ uation comedies" and the "serials". By networks, NBC's serials had the 190

highest subject-matter scores followed by CBS and ABC. CBS's "light sit­

uation comedies" had a higher subject-matter score than did ABC or NBC.

NBC placed third in this category. Concerning the movies, NBC topped the

list with a subject-matter score higher than that of CBS or ABC. (See

tables 25 through 29 for the subject-matter scores and program scores by

networks.)

Another indicator utilized is the "program score". The program score

is a summated score that expresses the overall presence of marital and

familial material in the programs analyzed. It is computed by adding the

subject-matter score, the rate per program, the rate per minute and the

rate per recording unit. The subject-matter score is included because it

depicts how much of the program contained marital and familial scenes.

The rate per program displays the frequency of marital and familial acts as a part of all the scenes in the program. The rate per minute reflects the concentration of marital and familial acts in time. The rate per re­ cording unit expresses the intensity of marital and familial acts in the marital and familial scenes analyzed. This score, then, gives weight to the extent that marital and familial activities prevail at all in the pro­ grams. In addition, it also expresses the. frequency as well as the sat­ uration or intensity of marital and familial behavior. This score is, of course, additive. Therefore, if all the components change in the same direction, the index will reflect this accumulation; if they counter one another, the score will be accordingly affected.

The program scores by networks indicate that NBC's programing had an overall greater intensity and frequency of marital and familial content, followed by CBS and ABC. This was the case even though CBS had more ex- 191

elusive hours than did both NBC and ABC. Figure 9 displays the networks

rankings.

0)CO u

NBC CBS ABC

Figure 9

Program scores by networks

Similar rankings exist for the network's program scores by "program types". By "serials" NBC came first followed by CBS and ABC. The same rankings continue for the three networks for their "light situation com­ edies". However, the order is reversed for the networks when looking at

"Movies"; ABC ranked first followed by CBS and NBC. The following figure compares the networks by the above three types of programs. 192

4.66 4.74

4

3 3.22

2

SERIALS LIGHT SITUATION COMEDY MOVIES

NETWORK CODE;

NBC CBS ABC

Figure 10

Program scores of networks by type of program

If a television viewer were specifically interested in restricting his attention to contemporary marital and familial material focusing es­ pecially on interaction between members of the conjugal family, he would have the greatest likelihood of finding the highest intensity of the ma- erial in serials broadcast by NBC with an overall program score of 4.66.

Although an ABC program had a higher program score (4.74), this was in the

"Movies". It is with a smaller degree of certainty that one could depend on the movies to remain consistent over time in the type of program content 193

broadcast. Consistency of the subject-matter over time is more likely with

the "serials".

Specific Measures; Comparisons Between Networks and Program Types

As noted previously, NBC had the highest overall program score of

3.84 compared to 3.36 for CBS and 3.23 for ABC. In terms of subject-matter

scores, CBS was very slightly higher with 35% of its subject-matter pro­

grams presenting contemporary marital and familial scenes; NBC was 34%

and ABC 26%. Since this is such a negligible difference between NBC and

CBS, it is not possible to state conclusively that one ranks higher.

Concerning the rate per program, which displays the frequency of mar­

ital and familial acts as a part of all the scenes in the programs, NBC

ranks first followed by CBS and ABC. In terms of the rate per exclusive minute, or the frequency of marital and familial acts per exclusive minute of broadcast, NBC and ABC are very similar, with NBC being very slightly higher. CBS ranked third on this indicator.

In terms of the intensity or concentration of acts per recording units,

NBC's programs displayed slightly more than two marital and familial acts per marital and familial scene. CBS and ABC displayed almost two acts per recording unit with 1,85 and 1.81 respectively. Generally, then, in terms of the specific measures (as well as the overall program score) NBC is the network with the largest concentration or has the highest intensity of the three major networks of those programs broadcasting the subject-matter. 794

Table 25

Selected measure: Program scores by networks

Network NBC ABC CBS

Subject-Matter Score; .34 .26 .35 (SMS)

Rates:

(R/P) Rate per program .74 .47 .59 (R/M) Rate per minute .70 .69 .57 (R/RU) Rate per Recording Unit 2.06 1.81 1.85

Program Scores:

PS=(SMS) + (R/P) + (R/M) + (R/RU) 3.84 3.23 3.36

Looking at specific measures of networks by serials, NBC's programs

had à subject-matter score of .35» CBS .19 and ABC .12. The rate per pro­ gram displays the same rankings; the same rankings hold for the rate of

marital and familial acts per minute. However, on the rate per recording

unit, CBS is slightly higher than NBC with almost three acts (2.85) per unit as compared to 2.70 acts for NBC. ABC portrayed two and one-third acts per recording unit. T95

Table 26

Selected measures: Program scores of serials by networks

Network NSC ABC CBS

Subject-Matter Score; .35 .19 .12 (SMS)

Rates:

(R/P) Rate per program .95 .56 .27 (R/M) Rate per minute .66 .34 .11 (R/RU) Rate per Recording Unit 2.70 2.85 2.33

Program Scores:

PS=(SMS) + (R/P) + (R/RU) + (R/M) 4.66 3.94 2.83

Thirty-seven percent of CBS's total scenes in its light situation comedies sampled portrayed the subject-matter, whereas the same is true for only 29% of ABC's and 21% for NBC. The rate per program ranks CBS first followed closely by NBC and ABC. In those programs displaying the subject-matter, CBS broadcast slightly more than one marital and familial act per minute. NBC and ABC broadcast less than one act per exclusive minute. However, NBC, in those scenes where the marital and familial ac­ tion remained constant, broadcast two and one-third marital and famil­ ial acts per recording unit compared to only one and a half for both CBS and ABC. 196

Table 27

Selected measure; Program scores of light situation comedy by networks

Network NBC CBS ABC

Subject-Matter Score; .21 .37 .29 (SMS)

Rates:

(R/P) Rate per program .54 .57 .47 (R/M) Rate per minute .89 1.03 .87 (R/RU) Rate per Recording Unit 2.33 1.52 1.59

Program Scores;

PS=(SMS) + (R/P) (R/M) + (R/RU) 3.97 3.49 3.22

For the three movies sampled, 52% of NBC's movies contained the sub-

matter. For CBS's and ABC's movie, their subject-matter scores were 44%

and 29% respectively. All three networks are quite similar in their rates

per program. In rank order, respectively, the rates were: CBS - 78, ABC -

74, NBC - 73. The CBS movie did display slightly more marital and familial acts per exclusive minute than did ABC, and considerably more than NBC.

The ABC movie had the greatest intensity and concentration of acts per re­ cording unit portraying over two and one-half per recording unit. The CBS and NBC movies portray 1.77 and 1.41 acts per recording unit respectively. 197

Table 28

Selected measure; Program scores of movies by networks

Network NBC CBS ABC

Subject-Matter Score: .52 .44 .29 (SMS)

Rates:

(R/P) Rate per program .73 .78 .74 (R/M) Rate per minute .78 1.20 1.13 (R/RU) Rate per Recording Unit 1.41 1.77 2.58

Program Scores:

PS=(SMS) + (R/P) + (R/M) + (R/RU) 3.44 3.99 4.74

Finally, looking at the three major types of programs (serials, light situation comedies, and movies) that comprise the sample, 42% of all the scenes in the three movies analyzed contained the subject-matter. The

light situation comedies and the serials contained the subject-matter in respectively 31% and 23% of all their scenes. The rate per program is also highest for the movies; a rate of .75 as compared to .65 for the serials and .53 for the light situation comedies. The movies displayed slightly more than one act per exclusive minute while the light situation comedies displayed almost one (.91) and the serials about one third of an act (.39).

However, in those scenes where the interaction between the incumbent of the status-role positions of husband-father and wife-mother with or with­ out their children remain constant, the serials portrayed almost three 198

acts per scene. The movies displayed almost two (1.80) and the light sit­

uation comedies 1.66 per recording unit.

Table 29

Selected measures; Program scores by program type

Proqram Typis 18 22 38 11 10

Subject-Matter Score: .23 .31 .42 .31 .08 (SMS)

Rates:

(R/p) Rate per program .65 .42 .75 .53 .19 (R/M) Rate per minute .39 1.55 1.02 .91 .20 (R/RU) Rate per Recording Unit 2.78 1.35 1.80 1.66 2.20

Program Scores:

(PS=(SMS) + (R/P) + (R/M) + (R/RU) 4.05 3.63 3.99 3.49 2.67

Type 18 = Daytime Serials Type 38 = Movies Type 22 = Studio Quiz Type 11 = Light Situation Comedy Type 10 = Prestige Drama

Specific Measures: Comparisons Between Networks' Programs

The previous discussion focused on the more general overall compari­ sons between networks and program types. The focus now changes to a de­ scription of the differences between specific programs in terms of certain selected indices. These indices are: (1) the subject-matter score, (2) the rate per program, (3) the rate per minute, and (4) the rate per re­ cording unit. Succinctly, in review, these refer to respectively: (1) the percentage of all the scenes in the program that were marital and 199

familial scenes, (2) the frequency of marital and familial acts as a part

of all the scenes in the program, (3) the concentration or frequency of

marital and familial acts in time, and (4) the intensity of acts in the

marital and familial scenes.

The serials; Program comparisons looking first at the subject-matter

scores of the serials finds NBC's "The Doctors" and "Another World" having

the greatest portion of their scenes depicting constant interaction between

husband and wife and/or with their children. Sixty percent and forty-five

percent of the respective scenes were depicting marital and familial inter­

action. In terms of specific programs, the top five were: "The Doctors",

"Another World", "The Guiding Light", "Search for Tommorrow" and "Love of

Life".

NBC's "The Doctors" remains at the top of the rankings when looking

at the serials by the "rate per program". This program had almost three

marital and familial acts per scene, regardless of whether the scene was

depicting contemporary marital and familial interaction. "The Doctors" is

followed by CBS's "The Guiding Light" with 1.12 marital and familial acts

per scene. NBC's "Another World" ranked third with 1.04 acts per scene;

CBS's "Search for Tomorrow" had 1.01 acts per scene, fifth was CBS's "The

Secret Storm" with .70 acts per scene. See Tables 30 through 32.

Taking the lead in the frequency of marital and familial acts per

exclusive minute is NBC's "Another World". A marital and familial act

took place at a rate of almost one (.92) per exclusive minute.. This pro­

gram is followed closely by CBS's "Search for Tomorrow (.67) and NBC's

"The Doctors". Of the remaining top five serials, both are broadcast by

CBS - "Where the Heart Is" (.38) and "The Secret Storm" (.34). 200

Looking at the serials by the rate per recording unit, NBC's "The

Doctors" recaptures first place with almost five (4.8) marital and familial

acts taking place in each marital and familial scene or "recording unit".

In other words, "The Doctors" displayed the greatest frequency or intensity of interac > and specific marital and familial acts of any serial sampled.

This rate indicates that with the interaction between the incumbents of the status-role positions of husband-father, wife-mother with or without chil­ dren, remaining constant, almost five different marital and familial acts were portrayed.

Four other programs also had a high intensity or frequency of marital and familial acts in each of the recording scenes. In rank order these were: "The Secret Storm", "The Edge of Night", "Where the Heart Is", and

"As the World Turns". Each of these had at least four marital and familial acts per recording unit; the range in these programs was from 4.44 to 4.00.

The remaining programs had rates ranging from slightly more than one to three acts per recording unit.

In terms of the overall indicator (program score), the ranking of the top five serials would include: "The Doctors", "The Guiding Light", "As the World Turns", "Search for Tomorrow", and "The Secret Storm". However, it must be kept in mind that the overall score as reflected in the program score is affected by variations in any or all of the specific indices that make it up. In other words, just because a program has a high program score, this does not necessarily mean that it was high in all of its spe­ cific indices. Therefore, it is necessary that one keep in mind his spe­ cific need or interest in reviewing these various indicators. Figure 11, 201

page 202, displays the program scores of the serials.

The Light Situation Comedies: CBS's "All in the Family" broadcast

twenty-eight scenes in the program analyzed; of these, nineteen (68%) were

depicting constant interaction between members of a conjugal unit. This

"light situation comedy" had the highest subject-matter score of any of

this program type. CBS programs also captured the other two top positions

in its programs "Hazel" and "The New Dick Van Dyke" series with respective

scores of 51 and 46. NBC's "Sanford and Son" was fourth with 43% of its

scenes portraying this interaction; CBS's "Bridget Loves Bernie" was fifth

with 41% of its scenes portraying this interaction. If one prefers to

watch light situation comedies as opposed to serials, and his favorites in­

clude any one of the above five, this viewer will be exposed to a high de­

gree of scenes depicting contemporary marital and familial interaction.

Looking at marital and familial acts as part of all the scenes in

the program, "The Partridge Family" had the highest rate (2.40) per pro­

gram. Tied for second place were "All in the Family" and "Bob Newhart",

with a rate of 1.00. The remaining two positions of the top five go re­

spectively to CBS's "The New Dick Van Dyke" (.94) and NBC's "Sanford and

Son" (.74).

Regarding the rate per exclusive minute of marital and familial acts,

"Bridget Loves Bernie" displayed almost two (1.97) acts per minute of non­ commercial programing. Two CBS programs - "All in the Family", and "The

New Dick Van Dyke" - broadcast respectively 1.40 and 1.32 acts per minute.

The remaining two top.spots went to ABC's "Bewitched" and "Paul Lynde" with rates of 1.14 and .87 respectively. 15 • 14. 13- 12 (/) 0> 11 • u 10 to8 9 8 § u 7 d) o 6 u a. 5 4 rs> o 3 ro 2 1 m È I 22 23 a 25 26 t 18 Serial s

Analysis Number Code;

1 — Days of Our Lives 23 -- Search for Tomorrow 27 — Edge of Night 2 — All My Children 24 -- Doctors 28 — The Guiding Light 19 — Love of Life 25 -- Where the Heart Is 29 — As the World Turns 22 — Secret Storm 26 -- Another World

Figure 11

Program scores of serials for sample week by analysis number 203

Looking at the recording unit per se, five marital and familial acts

were displayed in "Bob Newhart" per each marital and familial scene.

This program, then, had the greatest intensity or concentration of marital

and familial acts of any light situation comedy sampled. NBC's "Dick Van

Dyke" and CBS's "The New Dick Van Dyke" were respectively second and third

with 2.70 and 2.06 acts per recording unit. "Sanford and Son" and "The

Partridge Family" were fourth and fifth with rates of 1.70 and 1.66 respec­

tively. "All in the Family" ranked sixth portraying only 1.47 marital and

familial acts per recording unit.

Perhaps a few words of explanation are necessary at this point regard­

ing the different rankings occupied by the same program in the above dis­

cussion. "All in the Family's" subject-matter score indicated that 68% of

all the scenes depicted marital and familial interaction. The remaining

32% of the scenes - constant interaction between the same two actors -

pertained to non-marital or non-familial matters. This program was second in both the rate per program and the rate per minute. Both of these rates give an indication of what happened in terms of marital and familial acts: first in terms of all the scenes (the whole program), and secondly, in terms of the time or duration various marital and familial interactions were taking place. In other words, regarding both rates, other light situation comedies had more marital and familial acts taking place in terms of the total program or in terms of broadcast minutes, than did "All in the Family". Its dropping out of the top five programs indicates that for each marital and familial scene, relative to other programs, "All in the

Family" did not portray or did not have much intensity or frequency of 204

acts per scene. For example, each time an incumbent in the status-role

position of husband-father or wife-mother on the "Bob Newhart" program

interacted with his respective spouse or child, five acts took place as compared to slightly more than one by the incumbents of the same positions in "All in the Family". One, therefore, could state that the interaction

between spouses and/or with children on the "Bob Newhart" show is more intense than that on "All in the Family".

The program scores of the light situation comedies rank the top five shows as: "Bob Newhart", "The New Dick Van Dyke", "All in the Family",

"Sanford and Son", and "Bewitched". The first three are broadcast by CBS, the fourth by NBC, and that last by ABC. Figure 12, page 205 displays the program scores for light situation comedies.

The same discussion as above could be outlined for the "Movies",

"Prestige Dramas", and "Studio Quiz" programs included in the sample. How­ ever, this would not appear necessary since each is so small in frequency.

The following tables (30-32) indicate the rankings for all five types of programs analyzed in the sample. 7

(/) o L. 5 CO8 4 % ai 3 o 2 n> o 1 vn

12 17 tô 20 n 2] 1

Light Situation Comedies

Analysis Number Code;

12 — Bob Newhart 20 -- Bewi tched 14 — Maude 17 — Dick Van Dyke (CBS) 11 -- Bridget Loves Bernie 18 — Hazel 15 — All in the Family 21 -- Dick Van Dyke (NBC) 8 — Paul Lynde 16 — Sanford and Son 9 -- Brady Bunch 10 — Partridge Family 13 — Mayberry

Figure 12

Program scores of light situation comedies for sample week by analysis number Table 30

Rankings of serials by subject-matter score, rate per program, rate per minute, and rate per recording unit

SERIAL TITLE ' NETWORK SUBJECT--MATTER SCORE RATE PER PROGRAM RATE PER MINUTE RATE PER RECORDING U RANK SCORE RANK RATE RANK RATE RANK RATE

Days of Our Lives NBC 7 19 7 .45 6 .26 10 2.30

Doctors NBC 1 60 1 2.90 3 .64 1 4.80

As The World Turns CBS 9 15 6 .59 8 .20 5 4.00

Another World NBC 2 45 3 1.04 1 .92 8 2.29

All My Children ABC 10 14 9 .33 10 .10 8 2.29

Search for Tomorrow CBS 4 23 4 1.01 2 .67 7 2.33

Secret Storm CBS 7 19 . 5 .70 5 .34 2 4.44

Where the Heart Is CBS 6 20 8 .37 4 .38 4 4.25

Edge of Night CBS 11 14 11 .14 11 .05 3 4.42

Love of Life CBS 5 22 10 .27 7 .22 11 i.i8

The Guiding Light CBS 3 38 2 1.12 9 .14 6 3.00 •\

Table 31

Rankings of the light situation comedies by subject-matter score, rate per program, rate per minute, and rate per recording unit

RATE PER RATE PER RATE PER LIGHT SITUATION NETWORK SUBJECT-MATTER: PROGRAM; MINUTE: RECORDING UNIT: COMEDY RANKING RANKING RANKING RANKING RANK SCORE RANK RATE RANK RATE RANK RATE

Sanford and Son NBC 4 43 5 .74 10 .65 4 1.70

Dick Van Dyke NBC 11 16 11 .43 9 .70 2 2.70

The New Dick Van Dyke CBS 3 46 4 .94 3 1.32 3 2.06 O C Paul Lynde ABC 9 29 12 .38 5 10 1.33

Bewi tched ABC 8 33 6 .62 4 1.14 8 1.36 O C Brady Bunch . ABC 7 36 9 .49 7 9 1.35 ë

Partridge Family ABC 12 15 1 2.40 11 .42 5 1.66

Bridget Loves Bernie CBS 5 41 7 .53 1 1.97 11 1.29

Hazel CBS 2 51. 9 .49 10 .65 13 1.28

Bob Newhart CBS 10 20 2 1.00 5 .87 1 5.00

Maude CBS 6 40 8 .51 7 .85 11 1.29

A11 in the Fami 1 y CBS 1 68 2 1.00 2 1.40 6 1.47

Mayberry CBS 13 13 13 .15 12 .32 7 1.43 Table 32

Rankings of the movies, prestige' drama, and studio quiz by subject-matter score, rate per program, rate per minute and rate per recording unit

SUBJECT-MATTER RATE PER RECORDING MOVIE TITLE NETWORK SCORE RATE PER PROGRAM; RATE PER MINUTE: UNIT RANK SCORE RANK RATE RANK RATE RANK RATE

The Thrill of it All ABC 28 .74 1.13 2.57

The Diary of A Mad Housewife NBC 51 .78 1.41 .73 to o Never Too Late CBS 44 .78 1.19 1.77 00

PRESTIGE DRAMA

Owen Marshall ABC .19 .20 2.20

STUDIO quiz

Newlywed Game ABC 42 .42 1.55 1.35 209

the appendix c

The Recording Instrument

Program Title ______Copyright Year Network

Number of Scenes

Direction of Inte ractior1 to to Marital and to Familial Acts

Comments Father to Daughter Son Father to Son Daughter Mother Mother Husband Wife to Husband Wife

Expresses Concern Expresses Interest Verba 1 Affection Physical Affection Househo1d Chores Financial Concerns Disiplines ChiIdren Care of Children Recreational Activités Initiates Arauments Religious Acts Joking, Teasina Violence

Others;

General Theme Portrayed Exclusive Minutes 210

The Recording Instrument (cont.)

Additional Items of Interest:

Occupation of Husband

Occupation of Wife Number of Children Male Female Additional "family" members in same house (e.g.maid)

Family Composition: Conjugal ( Husband, Wife, Children)

Broken Conjugal; Why: Death (Which member)

Divorce (Which absent)

Separation (Which absent)

Consanguine: List Members:

Family Residence Pattern: Neolocal Patrilocal

Matrilocal

Family Authority Pattern: Patriarchal Matriarchal^

Democratic

Family Council (progeny have = votes with parents) 211

The Recording Instrument (cont.)

Record of the NON-MARITAL, NON-FAMILIAL scenes in the subject-matter

program. (Does not include those tallied under marital and familial scenes. Includes all scenes regardless of whether or not incumbents of marital and familial statuses are portrayed.)

FREQUENCY:

Acts portrayed by the incumbents of the husband-father, wife-mother statuses-roles NOT TOWARD each other or progeny.